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Continuous Provision & Play

Mark Making & Early Writing

Explore marks. Share ideas. Write with a purpose.

Find printable resources for drawing, mark making and meaningful early writing in nurseries, preschools, Reception classes and childminding settings, with selected resources suitable for KS1.

Support a welcoming writing area and the moments that happen across your provision: a shopping list in the home corner, a map beside a model, a message for a friend or a record of something discovered outdoors.

Choose a few useful resources to offer alongside familiar tools, materials and plain paper. Children’s own ideas give the marks their purpose.

What would you like to explore?

 

Please note that both Editable (docx file) and non-editable (pdf file) versions are available for ‘Mark Making/Drawing/Writing’ resources. (Editable files require Microsoft Word to work at optimum level and PDF files require a pdf viewer.)

 

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🎁 Try a Free Sample

Explore these samples with a Free Access account. Each offers a simple starting point for drawing, mark making and sharing ideas.

 

Teddy Bears’ Picnic Basket — Free Sample

What would your bears take on a picnic? Invite children to fill the basket with their own drawings, marks, labels or collage, then share their ideas. It can also be used as a reusable playdough mat.

Try the free sample →

My Family — Free Sample

Invite children to talk about the people important to them and choose how to represent their family through drawing, marks or writing.

Try the free sample →

 

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✏️ Core Mark Making & Early Writing Provision

Build a familiar collection children can find, choose from and revisit. Keep tools and paper accessible, model their use when helpful and add a printable when it supports what a child wants to do.

Printable Provision · Included with All Access Membership.


Explore Tools, Materials & Marks

Make room for experimenting. Offer a manageable choice of tools and surfaces, and time to discover what happens when children move, press, sweep or change direction. Drawing and mark making can be enjoyed for their own sake.

Preschool & Reception

Explore Marks — Tools, Surfaces & Actions

Help children choose what to use, where to make marks and how to move. Share a few picture cards alongside real materials, with freedom to combine ideas and revisit favourite actions.

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Toddlers 18–36 months · For adults

First Marks & Shared Discoveries — Toddlers

Illustrated invitations for adults sharing early mark-making discoveries with toddlers. Follow familiar actions, notice what holds a child’s interest and find simple ways to join in, talk and explore together.

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Preschool & Reception

Mark Making Inspiration — Different Media

Visual prompts to help children choose materials for their own mark making. Offer a few cards alongside the tools available in your setting.

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Drawing, Stories & Making Books

Give children space to draw what interests them, invent a story or gather their ideas into a book. Offer open paper and simple starting points, with time to talk, revisit a drawing or add another page. Children decide what their work means and whether they want to share it.

Preschool & Reception

Draw, Look & Imagine

Invite children to draw something they notice, remember or imagine. Share an illustrated starting point and open drawing space, welcoming their own ideas and the meanings they give their marks.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Make Your Own Books

Help children turn their pictures, stories, discoveries or memories into books to keep and share. Offer simple page choices and support with putting them together, while children decide what their book will contain.

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Preschool & Reception

Mark Making Inspiration — Topics

Picture prompts for children who would like a starting point for drawing or creating. Follow their interpretation and welcome ideas beyond the cards.

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Preschool & Reception

Story Maps

Two open story-map templates for representing and sharing a story. Children can use drawings, marks, symbols and words, with adult support when useful.

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Lists, Messages & Everyday Writing

Keep paper where children have a reason to use it. A shopping list can travel to the home corner; a message can be delivered to a friend; a sign can help someone find the way. Plain paper belongs alongside printable formats.

Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Everyday Writing for a Purpose — Lists

Gather materials for a model, remember things to find or save ideas for play. Choose from open, mixed and lined layouts for drawing, marks, dictated words or independent writing.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Everyday Writing for a Purpose — Messages

Give a note: invite a friend, pass on news or send a request in play. Flexible paper choices welcome children’s drawings, symbols and words.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Everyday Writing for a Purpose — Signs

Make a sign to welcome visitors, give directions or protect something still being built. Children choose their message and a suitable layout, then place it where someone can use it.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Everyday Writing for a Purpose — Labels

Name a model, identify a collection or explain something children have made. Untitled label spaces leave room for their own pictures, marks and words, with different layouts and sizes to choose from.

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Preschool & Reception

Home Corner Mark Making Pack

Choose drawing and writing formats to support the everyday events children recreate in their play. Make space for their own meanings and messages.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Post Office Role-Play Pack

Select delivery notes and other writing materials from this wider role-play pack. Give messages somewhere to go and someone to receive them.

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Maps, Plans & Recording Ideas

A map can help someone find a place; a plan can hold an idea for building; a record can preserve something worth remembering. Keep paper and drawing tools close to the play, and offer a format when children have something they want to show, explain or revisit.

Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Maps, Plans & Routes

Use drawings, symbols and writing to show a place, develop a building idea or explain a journey. Invitations and flexible templates help children record plans that can change as their play develops.

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Preschool & Reception

Small World — Maps, Signs, Messages & Notices

Add a map for a journey, a sign for a building or a message for a character. Ten invitations and reusable papers bring purposeful drawing and writing into children’s own small world stories.

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Preschool & Reception

Sand Treasure Map

Draw the sand-play space and show where treasure is hidden. Revisit the map together to explain a route or help someone search.

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Especially Reception

Maths Recording in Provision

Flexible recording prompts for quantities, scores, patterns and discoveries. Offer a format when it helps children remember or communicate an idea.

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Apply Taught Phonics & Letter Formation

In Reception, use provision to help children apply phonics and letter movements they have been explicitly taught. Keep familiar supports within reach when children want to write a label, note or message. Match the support to your setting’s phonics programme and handwriting approach.

Reception & other learners using taught phonics

Known Phonics Provision Toolkit

Fill the editable frames with taught graphemes and words, then take these familiar supports into the places where children are reading and writing.

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Reception & other learners using taught phonics

Phonics Application in Provision

Eight illustrated invitations for meaningful reading and writing in play. Share a relevant prompt aloud and let children choose the purpose, content and materials.

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For children exploring names and learning to form letters

Letter Formation & Name Writing

Create a personalised name model, explore familiar letters and give name writing a purpose in everyday play. Browse letter-formation cards, practical activities and ideas for signing pictures, making cards and adding names to role play. Choose resources that fit the child’s interests and your setting’s handwriting approach.

Includes a free name-writing generator — no membership needed.

Explore letter formation & name writing →

 

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Make Marks & Write Outdoors

Offer opportunities for big movements, water marks, chalk drawings and portable writing. Clipboards and paper can accompany a discovery, a construction project or a mud-kitchen recipe. Choose a printable when it adds something useful to the play.

Preschool & Reception

Big Marks Outdoors

Eight illustrated invitations for exploring marks through outdoor movement and familiar materials. Make space for repeated actions, changing directions and children’s own ideas, with prompts to revisit throughout the year.

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Preschool & Reception

Mud Kitchen Ingredients Lists

Draw or write ingredients to gather, remember or share. Let the list follow the mixture children are making and the ideas they want to revisit.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

My Mud Kitchen Recipe Book

Help children record and share their invented recipes through drawings, marks and writing. Add to the book when there is something they want to remember.

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Early Writing Across the Setting

Follow the purpose, then offer the resource. These everyday possibilities can help you decide where paper and writing tools will be useful.

Home Corner

A shopping list to take to the shop.

Construction

A plan or sign for a building.

Small World

A map, message or name for a place.

Maths & Games

A way to remember a score or quantity.

Investigation

A drawing or note about a discovery.

Outdoors

A route, recipe or notice to share.

Children can keep playing without recording. Offer the possibility when it is useful, and respect a child’s choice to use it, adapt it or carry on.

 

Find resources for your play

Choose a resource to see its cover and description on this page.

🏡 Home Corner

🧱 Construction

🌍 Small World

🔢 Maths & Games

🔎 Investigation

🌿 Outdoors

 

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🌱 Choose by Age & Setting

Find a useful starting point for the children you support. Select a resource below to see its cover and description on this page, then decide whether to explore the pack.

Age ranges are a guide. Choose materials and adult support for children’s interests, movements, communication and experience.

🍼 Babies | 🚼 Toddlers | 🎨 Preschool | 🎓 Reception | 🎒 KS1 | 🏡 Childminders

🍼 Babies: 0–18 months

Begin with shared attention, movement and sensory discovery. Follow what your baby notices and enjoys, with suitable materials and close adult support. There is no expectation to produce a picture or use printable sheets.

You can begin without printing anything: look together at something interesting, respond to a repeated movement, or notice a change the baby has made while exploring.

Related resources for adults supporting babies

Being Outdoors Together — Babies
Shared outdoor experiences involving looking, listening, movement and touch.
Premium & Professional

 

In-the-Moment Prompt Cards — Babies
Support for noticing babies’ cues and responding during everyday care, play and exploration.
Professional guidance

 

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🚼 Toddlers: 18–36 months

Start with familiar tools, accessible surfaces and time to repeat favourite actions. These resources offer ideas for adults to select and share; children can explore in their own way.

 

🎨 Preschool: 3–4 years

Offer opportunities to explore marks, draw, pretend to write and share ideas. Choose a resource when it adds something useful to children’s play.

 

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🎓 Reception: 4–5 years

Give children reasons to compose, draw and write across their play. Support them to use phonics and letter movements they have been taught, while keeping their ideas and intended reader in mind.

Create a free personalised name-writing model →

 

🏡 Childminders & Mixed-Age Settings

Keep a portable collection of paper and familiar tools that can travel with the play. Choose different materials and levels of support for each child.

 

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🎒 KS1: Year 1 & Year 2

Use selected open formats to give children purposeful opportunities to apply their teaching. Adapt the vocabulary, support and depth of writing to your learning focus.

 

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🍂 Provision Enhancements

Add a small invitation, context or material when it connects with children’s interests, experiences or something they are learning. Keep familiar tools available so children can continue their own ideas.

You do not need a new theme every week. A useful enhancement may be revisited, changed or kept for as long as it supports the play.

Autumn Writing with a Purpose

Offer a list, sign, message or recording sheet alongside an Autumn discovery or woodland story. Choose the layout together: drawings, marks, symbols, dictated words and independent writing can all help children communicate.

 

Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Autumn Lists

Gather materials for a woodland model, plan a collection or remember something noticed on a walk. Choose a paper layout that suits the child’s purpose.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Autumn Messages

Leave a note at a woodland home, share news or ask for help in a story. Offer a message when there is a reason to send it.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Autumn Signs

Make a welcome, direction or notice for a place in children’s play. Children choose the message and put the sign where it can be used.

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Preschool, Reception & selected KS1 use

Autumn Investigation

Offer a place to draw or write about an Autumn discovery. Support children to record what interests them, using marks, pictures or words.

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Nature, Walks & Discoveries

Take a small selection of recording materials on a walk or offer them beside an interesting object. Leave room for children’s own questions, drawings and observations.

Role Play & Story Worlds

Add writing materials when they help a story continue: an appointment for a pet, an order for a shop or a note for a character. Let children decide what needs to be said.

Cards, Celebrations & Special Messages

Make a card for someone important, write an invitation or share a thank-you. Encourage children to think about the recipient and choose their own picture or message.

 

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More Themed Mark Making, Drawing & Writing

Browse wider collections for a particular season or interest. Select the resources that fit your children and the opportunities already available in your setting.

 

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Make Space for Different Ways to Participate

Offer different tools, paper sizes, working positions and ways to communicate. A child might draw, choose a picture, dictate a message, use familiar communication support or write independently.

Keep established communication books or devices available. Welcome home languages, read prompts aloud when helpful and ask before adding adult writing to a child’s work. Aim to make the experience accessible while keeping the child’s idea central.

 

Develop Your Mark Making & Writing Provision

Looking for support with progression, adult interaction or planning the environment? Explore the relevant documents in our EYFS Curriculum & Pedagogy Suite.

Professional membership required for the guidance below.

 

🚼 Toddlers

🎨 Preschool

🎓 Reception

 

🚼 Toddlers

Explore early meaning-making and practical support for the toddler environment.

 
 

🎓 Reception

Connect explicit teaching with meaningful writing opportunities across the classroom.

 
 

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Questions About Mark Making & Writing Provision

Do I need a separate writing area?

An accessible writing area can help children find familiar resources. Also offer suitable tools and paper where children are playing, building, investigating or recreating everyday events. A portable basket can work well in a smaller setting.

How much should I put out?

Begin with a manageable selection of familiar tools and paper. Introduce a card, format or material when it supports an idea, and give children time to revisit it. You do not need to display every page of a pack.

Does every mark-making experience need to lead to writing?

No. Children can explore marks, draw, experiment and express themselves without an expectation to form letters or produce words. Meaningful writing opportunities can sit alongside these experiences.

How do I use phonics resources in provision?

Use them to support phonics children have already been taught. Match editable resources to your setting’s programme, model their use and offer help with unfamiliar content. Provision complements explicit teaching.

Are these resources suitable for KS1?

Selected open formats and role-play resources can support Year 1 and Year 2 writing. Choose a meaningful purpose and adapt the language, support and expected depth to the children and your curriculum.

Do I need to print everything?

No. Read an idea on screen, use plain paper or print only the parts that will be useful. Check individual resource pages for available editable and PDF versions.

 
 

Find the Right Access for You

Free Access

Explore selected free resources and our Special Dates Calendars.

Premium

Access the full EYFS & KS1 Printable Provision library, including the practical printable resources featured here.

Professional

Access everything in Premium plus the EYFS Curriculum & Pedagogy Suite for planning and professional guidance.

Explore Membership Options →
 

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