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Nursery rhymes play a really important role in your child's development. By singing, listening and joining in with rhymes, children build key skills that support their learning both now and as they grow.

How you can help at home:

Sing nursery rhymes together regularly

Add actions to make them interactive

Repeat favourite rhymes often

Encourage your child to join in with words or actions

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100+ videos of traditional Nursery Rhymes with lyrics arranged alphabetically: The animal fair...to Humpty Dumpty...to Wind the bobbin up! All videos include the words on screen and a lyric sheet to print out.

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Nursery Rhymes. Animated versions of BBC nursery rhymes for children with lyrics. 100+ videos. The Animal Fair...to...Humpty Dumpty...to Wind the bobbin up!

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Phonics helps children learn how to read and write by teaching them the sounds that letters make and how to blend them together to read words.

You can support at home by:
• Practising the sounds we send home
• Reading little and often together
• Encouraging your child to sound out words when reading
• Playing simple sound games (e.g. “I spy something beginning with…”)

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The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel…

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Fine motor skills involve the small muscles in the hands and fingers, which are essential for everyday tasks such as writing, drawing, cutting, buttoning clothes, and using utensils. Developing these muscles early helps children gain confidence and independence.

Playdough is a fun and effective way to strengthen these skills. When children squeeze, roll, pinch, and shape playdough, they are:

Building hand strength and control

Improving hand–eye coordination

Developing finger dexterity needed for writing

Practising concentration and creativity

These playful activities lay the foundation for later learning, especially when it comes to holding a pencil correctly and forming letters.

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How to make the best ever, no-cook play dough recipe in just 4 minutes, that will lasts for 6 months! Voted the number one play dough recipe by teachers, parents and child-carers for many years in a row! I hope you'll love it too 🙂

I've been working with children for over 20 years and play dough is the fail safe way to engage and excite little hands and minds! It is a brilliant sensory and fine motor tool that is ridiculously easy to make and SO much better than any store bought versions.

By making it yourself you know exactly what has gone into it and can also customise it in so many ways, such as adding colour, sparkles and even natural flavours or essential oils. It has a proven therapeutic quality and has saved my parenting on more occasions than I can number! It is, quite simply, the best play material out there.

I hope you will love my easiest ever, no-cook play dough recipe!
The benefits of using play dough for young children are wonderful and the play possibilities are endless! You need: Method:
[Amazon affiliate links to help you find the ingredients I recommend. Many of these are bulk size as it works out cheaper when making for classes or every month like we often do!]
Voila!

Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl

Add food colouring TO the boiling water then into the dry ingredients

Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough

Add the glycerine (optional)

Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. * This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it's the perfect consistency!*

If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right

We use these Wilton Gel colours as they are much more vibrant and take only a tiny amount to colour the dough. We also use them in all our other sensory play activities to and they last for ever!

You can store this play dough in an air tight container for at least 6 months. If you live in a humid climate you might need to store it in the fridge and out of sunlight.

Here's our new video showing how EASY it is to make this play dough!!

Once you've made your play dough hop on over to this post where I explain the totally amazing benefits of play dough play! And recommend many items to start collecting to create a play dough tool kit. Here are some brilliant play dough tools we have and love to use alongside this recipe. These are totally worth adding to your play dough toolbox and will last for a very long time!
Wooden pattern rollers Wooden texture stampers Wooden spools for building with playdough Metal cookie cutters Toy animals Garlic Press Mini metal pots Paper Straws
I have listed the direct links to find the items in this image below:

Plus many more ideas in individual posts in my play dough archives!

How here are over 50+ ways to change this basic mix to create an amazing range of different play dough flavours and fun activities to go with them! Literacy, maths, imaginative play and role play to name just a few.

Click through to find your favourites and pin them for future use.

And here are 10 beautiful, natural play dough recipes for you to try too!

Enjoy!

Search the full Play Dough archives here

Looking for Salt Dough that can be played with then hardened into models to keep? Here is our Rainbow Glitter Salt Dough recipe

I hope you love this easy no-cook play dough recipe and will share it far and wide! Thanks for the hundreds upon hundreds of you that have already told me it's the best recipe you've ever used and will use it in your classrooms and homes ever more! 🙂

[This post contains Amazon affiliate link to help you find products I love and recommend easily. Thank you!]

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Best Ever No-Cook Play Dough Recipe! - The Imagination Tree

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How to make the best ever, no-cook play dough recipe in just 4 minutes, that will lasts for 6 months!

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Watching Numberblocks at home is a great way to support your child’s understanding of numbers. The programme introduces early maths concepts in a fun and engaging way, helping children recognise numbers, counting, and simple problem-solving. This can build confidence and reinforce the learning we do in school.

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The animated adventures of friends who can always count on each other.

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In Reception, learning about different celebrations from around the world is a really valuable part of children’s development. It helps them begin to understand and appreciate the diverse world they are part of.

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JoJo & Gran Gran - Series 3 - Winter: 11. It’s Time for Lunar New Year

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JoJo and Gran Gran meet Henry and Bonnie, who are celebrating Lunar New Year. They join them inside the art gallery to find out about Chinese traditions.

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Play along with the fun and friendly letters of the alphabet.

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Junk modelling (using recycled items like boxes, tubes, and cartons) is a fun and valuable way to support your child’s learning at home.

When children cut, stick, and build, they are strengthening the small muscles in their hands, which helps with writing and everyday tasks. It’s also a great way to spark their imagination—your child can turn simple materials into anything they like, from rockets to houses!

This type of play encourages lots of talking too. Children often explain what they are making, which helps build their confidence and language skills. It also supports problem-solving, as they figure out how to join materials together and make their ideas work.

Junk modelling is also a lovely way to introduce the idea of reusing and recycling materials in a simple, hands-on way.

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Make cool stuff with junk - CBeebies - BBC

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Zoe and the Junk Rescue team have great ideas for re-using the plastic bottles, old boxes and other household items destined for the recycle bin!

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Talking about feelings - The Colour Monster 

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Talking about feelings - The Colour Monster 

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Young children feel big emotions but don't always have the words or skills to manage them. When we talk about feelings with them, we help them understand themselves and the world around them. Naming feelings like happy, sad, angry or worried helps children recognise what they are experiencing. This is the first step in learning how to cope with these emotions.

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Amy Dowden on Cbeebies Bedtime Stories - 5th February 2023

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A menu of exciting activities for families with young children, giving them great suggestions for how to have fun and learn at the same time.