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Building Block Pattern & Colour Challenge Cards
Use a few blocks to explore the patterns on the cards, then try making a pattern of your own.
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For parents & carers · Birth to 7 years
Parents & Home Learning
Play, learning and little discoveries at home
Find ideas, printable resources and helpful guidance for sharing everyday learning with your child—from babyhood and toddler play to preschool, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
You do not need to turn your home into a classroom. Start with something your child enjoys, choose what is useful and make it work for your family.
Find resources for your child’s age
Choose an age or year group as a starting point, then look for activities and support that fit your child’s interests and needs.
Try something together
Start with one free sample that connects with your child’s interests. Open the resource page for details and download options; sign in or create a Free Access account when prompted.
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Goldilocks & the Three Bears: Colouring Masks
Colour a character and use it to retell a familiar story or make up a new one together.
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Outdoor Maths: Shape Challenge Cards
Try a shape-making idea outdoors, choosing suitable materials and talking about what you notice.
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Minibeast Search Checklist
Look together for small creatures outdoors and record what you spot. There is no need to find every creature or handle them.
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Free online tool · No account needed
Make a name-writing card
Create a personalised model using your child’s name. Choose plain letters or starting points and arrows, then print a card or download the model as a PNG.
Check that the letter shapes and movements match the approach used by your child’s setting or school.
Give writing a purpose
Keep a name model nearby when signing a picture, making a card or playing at taking a register. Welcome your child’s marks and attempts; they do not need to write their whole name independently.
Everyday play & family time
A few familiar toys, somewhere to draw or a shared game can be a lovely place to start. Use printables where they add something to the experience—not as a list of tasks to complete.
Build & Pretend
Make a home for toy animals, build a bridge or turn a few everyday objects into a pretend café. Choose a sign, ticket or picture that adds to your child’s ideas; you do not need to print a whole role-play pack.
Draw, Make & Create
Explore drawing, colouring, making and modelling. Let your child choose colours, materials and what happens next—there does not need to be a matching finished result.
Get Outside & Explore
Notice what is growing, look for interesting shapes or make up a movement game. Adapt an idea for a garden, park, local walk or another outdoor space available to you.
Share a Game or Puzzle
Try a matching game, puzzle or building challenge. Begin with a small selection, play together and change the rules or amount of help to keep it enjoyable.
Again and again?
Does your child keep filling containers, carrying objects or joining things together? Notice what interests them and offer safe opportunities to explore it again. You do not have to introduce something new every time—or give their play a label. Visit our Schema Resources page to find out more about schematic play.
No printer?
Start with a play idea: build a home for a toy, tell a story together, look for shapes on a walk or make a repeating pattern with suitable objects. Some resources offer prompts for adults to read before playing; print only when a page adds something useful.
Talking, books, reading & writing
Share conversations and books, enjoy sounds and rhymes, and make room for drawing and writing. For school phonics practice, begin with what your child has been taught rather than choosing a resource by age alone.
Listen, Talk & Play with Sounds
Sing familiar rhymes, copy a playful sound or clap the beats in a name. Give your child time to join in through words, movements, pointing or simply enjoying the experience with you.
Enjoy Books & Stories Together
Keep sharing stories, poems and information books that interest your child—even when they cannot read those books themselves. Books you read aloud do not need to be limited to the phonics your child knows.
Talk about an interesting picture, enjoy a favourite phrase or act out part of a story. There is no need to turn every book into a question-and-answer session.
Understand Phonics
Phonics connects spoken sounds with letters or groups of letters. Blending means putting sounds together to read a word; segmenting means identifying the sounds in a spoken word to help spell it.
Ask your child’s school which sounds and words to practise and how they say the sounds. Follow its approach rather than starting a different sequence at home.
Help Your Child Read
For reading practice, use the book or text your child’s school has matched to their taught phonics. Help them use the sounds throughout an unfamiliar word, rather than guessing from its picture or first letter.
Revisit familiar reading books as well as new ones. Rereading gives your child opportunities to read more smoothly and think about the meaning.
When Reading Feels Difficult
Pause and offer help rather than asking your child to keep struggling. Model the sounds and blend together using the school’s approach; give the word when needed and keep the experience supportive.
If books regularly feel too difficult, or reading is upsetting, talk with your child’s teacher about the right text and support. More worksheets are not automatically the answer.
Make Marks, Draw & Write
Draw a plan, make a card or leave a message. Welcome your child’s marks and ideas, and offer to write down what they tell you.
When practising letter formation, use the letters and movements their school is teaching. A whole alphabet pack is a collection to choose from, not a requirement to work through every letter.
Drawing & early writing resources · Lower-case letter formation cards
Maths & discoveries in everyday life
Explore ideas through things your child can handle, notice and talk about. Try one question, see what happens and follow their thinking.
Maths Through Play
Count toys into a box, compare two towers, make a repeating pattern or work out whether a toy will fit inside a container. Explore amounts, size, shape and position—not just recognising written numbers.
Our Maths Through Play collection includes practical prompts and printables to use alongside familiar materials. On the resource page, you will see this described as Maths Continuous Provision.
Wonder About the World
Watch a shadow change, notice how a plant grows or compare materials while making something. You do not need to know every answer: try “I wonder…” and explore together.
Feelings, routines & starting school
Find resources to support familiar routines, share what matters to your child and prepare for new experiences. Choose what helps your family rather than trying to use everything.
Talk About Feelings
Use a picture or story to open up a conversation about how someone might feel. Listen to your child’s own explanation; they do not have to choose a card or name a feeling on demand.
Make Routines Easier to Follow
Try a few familiar pictures to show what is happening now and what comes next. Choose images your child understands and use them together, rather than introducing a complicated timetable all at once.
Support Different Ways to Communicate
Explore pictures alongside your child’s words, gestures, signs or communication system. Follow any individual advice you have been given, and share useful approaches with their nursery, childminder or school.
Keep talking, singing and sharing stories in the languages your family feels comfortable using.
Starting Nursery or School
Explore what the day might look like, talk about familiar routines and share your child’s interests, comforts and communication needs with the adults who will care for them.
Help them try everyday tasks with the support they need. Preparing for school is not about completing a reading or writing checklist, and children do not all need the same kind of support.
Transition resources · School Readiness Support Information Sheet
Supporting learning in Reception, Year 1 & Year 2
Use a game, practical activity or carefully chosen printable to revisit something your child is learning. Ask their teacher what would be useful, especially for phonics and methods used in maths.
Keep time for play, rest and interests beyond schoolwork, too.
Reception: Everyday Learning & Early Reading
Explore stories, playful maths, drawing and writing, alongside short opportunities to practise phonics already taught at school.
Year 1 & Year 2 Maths
Browse our KS1 Mathematics collection for resources organised around Year 1 and Year 2 learning. Choose a manageable starting point rather than working through every objective at home.
Year 1 & Year 2 Science
Browse our KS1 Science collection for resources linked to Year 1 and Year 2 learning. Use your child’s questions and school topics to help choose a starting point.
Read & talk together
Explore stories, facts and poems in our Year 1 and Year 2 comprehension collections. Read aloud or share the reading when needed, and use questions as starting points for conversation.
Comprehension texts are organised by year group and text type, rather than a particular phonics sequence. For independent reading practice, use text matched to the phonics your child has been taught.
Babies & toddlers: little moments together
Talk about what you are doing, share a familiar song or explore a suitable object together. Pause to notice your child’s movements, sounds and other responses, and follow their interest.
Our Early Maths Through Play cards offer ideas for adults to use during everyday play. Babies do not need to recognise numbers, answer questions or complete printed activities.
Early Maths Through Play: babies, 0–18 months →
Early Maths Through Play: toddlers, 18–36 months →
Choose materials for your individual child. Check age suitability and condition, supervise closely and keep small parts out of reach of babies and children who mouth objects—including when older siblings are playing nearby.
Helpful guidance for parents
These All Access guides are written for adults. Choose the support that feels useful for your family.
All Access · Parent guidance
Supporting Babies at Home
Reassuring guidance for adults about shared routines, relationships and communication during everyday life with a baby.
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All Access · Parent guidance
Supporting Speech & Language at Home
Explore everyday ways to support communication: talk, listen, wait and follow your child’s interests during familiar play and routines.
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Seasonal ideas & your child’s interests
Follow an interest in animals, vehicles, stories or something your child has noticed outdoors. Add seasonal ideas or celebrations where they are meaningful to your family—there is no need to follow every special date.
Discover something together
Explore ideas and printable resources that fit your child’s interests and familiar play.
Follow an Interest
Find starting points linked to favourite stories, animals, places and imaginative adventures.
Look Ahead to Special Dates
Explore festivals, celebrations and awareness dates, and choose those you would enjoy finding out about together.
Getting started
Do I Need to Print a Whole Pack?
No. Choose the pages you need and revisit them when useful. Some resources are prompts for you to read before playing, rather than sheets your child needs in front of them.
Which File Should I Choose?
Choose the PDF for a ready-to-print version. Choose the editable Word file, where available, to change text or adapt a resource; you will need suitable software. Check the resource page for the formats included.
What Do EYFS and KS1 Mean?
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the framework used in England for children from birth to five, including Reception. Key Stage 1 (KS1) covers Year 1 and Year 2. Use age and year-group labels as starting points when browsing, not as a checklist for your child.
Can I Use These Resources for Home Education?
Yes. Select resources that fit your child and your approach. The collections offer individual activities and guidance; they are not presented as a complete home-education curriculum.
Find the right access for your family
Free Access
Explore and download a selection of free resources, including our Special Dates Calendars. A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
All Access
Unlock every resource on the site, including our EYFS and KS1 printable resources and the EYFS Curriculum & Pedagogy Suite. Choose the activities and parent guidance that suit your family.
Already a paying member? You have sitewide access. Your existing subscription price and billing schedule stay the same; there is no need to change plans.
Need help finding a resource or accessing your account? Visit our help page or contact Little Owls support.