Children’s Book Week – taking literacy outside

13 July 2015

Sssssshhhhh – we’re reading! Last week it was Children’s Book Week, the annual celebration of books and reading for pleasure. The week is organised by Book Trust, the largest reading charity in the UK, and involves schools, libraries, children and parents across the country. Book Trust have developed some great ideas for schools to celebrate the week and to keep reading alive over the summer, like organising book swaps or arranging a visit from an author or illustrator.

In fact, we enjoyed last week so much we want to keep things going and have collected together some great ideas for you! You can use your imagination and some great curriculum-linked resources to transform your school’s outside space into an outdoor classroom. And of course you can rely on us to be there to help.

For instance, you could sit outside as a class and take it in turns to read sections of a favourite book using our wooden Storyteller Chair or Circle Time Chair and Seats Set – just £900 in July. Or relax on our comfy, hard-wearing outdoor Bean Bag Sets for small group work or guided reading. For schools or settings without any grass outside, this Story Time Lawn provides some soft ground-level seating for outdoor reading.

Or how about setting up an outdoor mark-making, art or design studio to create illustrations or new covers for your favourite books? Our Timber Project Tables and Creativity Tables are perfect for KS1, while younger children will love our Poddely Mark Making Set – with 25% off in July.

Maybe bring a famous book character to life with a model made from recycled or natural materials or create a stage to act out part of a book’s story. Our Discovery Pits have staging areas built in and there’s 20% off in July.

You could even use book stories as the starting point for physical literacy activities. This Freestanding Balance Beam Trail would make a great Bear Hunt while our mini towers make perfect fairy tale castles – all with 15% off in July.

From lesson plans to toolkits, workshops to guides, you can download school resources here.

We’re going to get back to our books now…

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