non-topic Literacy Resources — Little Owls Resources

Everyday Writing for a Purpose - Lists

Keep a few lists beside plain paper and familiar tools. Children might gather building materials, plan a shared search, record a collection, save a reminder or share ideas for their play. Offer a list when it helps with something they want to do.

Choose a layout together

A offers open spaces for drawing and marks. B pairs picture spaces with writing room. C offers more writing lines. These are choices of paper, not ability groups or steps to complete. Children can choose any layout, switch between them, dictate or combine pictures, symbols, letters and words.

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Everyday Writing for a Purpose - Signs

Offer a sign when it helps children communicate in their play: welcome visitors, show a route, save an unfinished model or make a request. Children decide the place, picture and message. Put the finished sign where its reader will need it.

Choose a layout together

A offers open space for drawing and marks. B pairs a picture space with writing room. C offers more writing lines. These are choices of paper, not ability groups or steps to complete. Children can choose any layout, switch between them, dictate or combine pictures, symbols, letters and words.

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Everyday Writing for a Purpose - Labels

Offer a label when children want to name a model, identify an object, explain a collection or help someone find a place. Keep labels beside plain paper and familiar tools. The spaces are untitled so children can choose what their labels mean and where to use them.

Choose a layout together

A offers open space for drawing and marks. B pairs a picture space with writing room. C offers writing lines. These are choices of paper, not ability groups or steps to complete. Children can choose any layout, dictate or combine pictures, symbols, letters and words. Choose a larger label when more space will help.

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Everyday Writing for a Purpose - Messages

Keep message paper near places where children have something to communicate: a home corner, construction site, small-world home or outdoor meeting place. They can share news, ask for help, invite someone or say thank you. Missing and Found are notices about play objects or story characters.

Choose a layout together

A offers space for drawing and marks. B combines a picture space with writing room. C offers more writing lines. These are choices of paper, not ability groups or steps to complete. Children can choose any layout, switch between them, dictate or combine pictures, symbols, letters and words.

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Explore Marks - Tools, Surfaces & Actions

Offer familiar tools and varied surfaces for children to explore the marks they can make. These cards offer choices of tools, surfaces and movements, with space for children’s own ideas. Keep the real objects available alongside the pictures.

Offer choices and time to explore

Put out a few compatible choices. Children can choose a card, combine ideas, return to a favourite or ignore the cards. They do not need one card from every group. Dab, drag, roll, press, sweep and swirl are possibilities to explore, not instructions to complete.

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Make Your Own Books

Children can make books from drawings, marks, words, photographs, collage or things they want to share. Offer a few paper choices and help them put pages together when they are ready. A book can begin with a single page.

Start with a reason

A book might hold an invented story, something a child knows, a memory, noticed details or an idea of their own. Keep the four idea cards nearby only if they help. Children may choose a different subject or start making before they know what their book will become.

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Big Marks Outdoors

Offer space to explore movement, tools and marks outdoors. Children may repeat an action, change direction, make something they recognise or enjoy the marks themselves. These eight invitations support everyday provision and can be revisited throughout the year.

Begin with a manageable choice

Put out one or two suitable tools in a familiar outdoor space. Keep useful materials available for children to return to. Display an invitation only when it helps; children can follow their own ideas, watch, join in or return later.

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First Marks & Shared Discoveries | Toddlers

Toddlers 18–36 months · For adults

These invitations focus on what a toddler notices, repeats and shares while exploring marks. A mark may be a line, a patch of water, an impression or a track. Enjoyment may come from the movement itself or from a change in a surface. Use the ideas with familiar resources indoors or outdoors, wherever the child is comfortable.

Begin with something familiar

Offer one simple setup and time to explore. Watch what draws the child's attention. They may touch a tool, move it, watch you, revisit one action or leave. Use the cards in any order and return to the same invitation while it remains interesting. The age range is a guide to the intended audience, not a sequence of expected achievements.

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Draw, Look and Imagine

Drawing can help children explore something they notice, remember or imagine. These invitations offer starting points for their own ideas. A drawing may develop through marks, shapes, colour, words or conversation, and its meaning may change as the child works.

Offer a possibility

Choose a card when it connects with a child’s interest. Offer familiar drawing materials and open paper. Children can use the idea, adapt it, return to it later or continue in another way. Looking, remembering and imagining can overlap; the cards do not form a sequence.

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Small World - Maps, Signs, Messages & Notices

Small World | Mark Making & Early Writing

A shared pack of ten invitations and reusable papers for children’s maps, signs, messages and notices. Use them when children want to show a place, share an idea or communicate with someone in their small world play.

Begin with the play

Keep familiar people, animals, vehicles and building materials available. Offer one relevant card or a piece of paper when it connects with what children are doing. Children can use the idea, change it or continue playing in another way. Read a prompt aloud if helpful; it is not a reading task or a sequence to complete.

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MARK MAKING - Inspiration Cards - Different Media

These cards are to help inspire children in their mark making as they decide which medium to use. It is hoped that the visual nature of the cards will help children who may have a language or communication barrier. 13 cards included in the pack.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

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MARK MAKING - Inspiration Cards - Topics

These cards are to help inspire children in their mark making, giving them ideas of what they might like to create.

It is hoped that the visual nature of the cards will help children who may have a language or communication barrier. 40 cards included in the pack.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

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BOOK REVIEW SHEETS - DIFFERENTIATED

Differentiated Book Review sheets. These sheets move from encouraging mark making and emergent writing right up to prompts for extended thinking and independent writing. In all cases, these sheets can be worked on alongside an adult with lots of discussion and possible scribing of the children’s ideas.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

WORD GAME - CVC/CVCC/CCVC

Picture cards with spaces for letter tiles. Cut out the bold letter tiles from each page and mix up for the children to find and add to the pictures. Includes basic phase 2 sounds to make 3 or 4 letter words.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

CVC WORDS CUT AND STICK ACTIVITY

CVC words cut and stick activity. 10 words included. 2 words shown on each presentation sheet. Why not invite your children to cut out the letters and pictures and stick them in the correct order? Differentiate this activity for your individual children through levels of support offered with the various aspects. Great activity for fine motor control, observational skills, letter recognition and early blending of ‘Consonant, Vowel, Consonant’ words.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

PRE-WRITING CARD PROMPTS

Pre-writing prompt cards with shape prompts for early mark makers. The shapes on the cards and the associated verbal cues act as a prompt for the children as they mark make. The three movement exercises included represent the main movements employed in writing. Children do not need to recreate the pattern on the prompt exactly, but simply get used to holding a mark making tool and enjoy making marks in the suggested directions repeatedly. Our children love to say the words as they make the movements! Why not encourage your children to make these marks using different media, e.g. in a sand tray or salt dish?

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

PRE-WRITING SHEETS

Pre-writing sheets with shape prompts for early mark makers. The shapes on the sheets and the associated verbal cues act as a prompt for the children as they mark make. The three movement exercises included represent the main movements employed in writing. Children do not need to recreate the pattern on the sheet exactly, but simply get used to holding a mark making tool and enjoy making marks in the suggested directions repeatedly. Our children love to say the words as they make the movements!

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

PHASE 2 LETTER WRITING (2023)

Handy differentiated writing sheets based on Phase 2 Sounds. Why not take a look at our other Phase 2 Letters and Sounds resources?

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

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PHASE 2 SIGHT WORDS WRITING PRACTICE

Handy Phase 2 words writing practice sheets. Children trace over the gradually fading out letters until they have space to write it independently at the bottom.

Original artwork drawn by Sara Murphy and final digital resources created by Stuart Murphy. COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE RESOURCES HOUSED ON THIS WEBSITE IS HELD BY ‘LITTLE OWLS RESOURCES’. OUR RESOURCES (INCLUDING THE IMAGES WITHIN THEM), CANNOT BE SHARED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

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