Kitewren library / Nursery & Reception
Nursery & Reception: General Yearly Topics
Browse clear yearly topic collections for nursery and Reception. Start with the theme that fits your planning, then use EYFS learning areas as a supporting way to narrow the shelf. Save ideas that fit your children, your space, and this week’s thinking.
Scope of this clarity update
Six selected activities were revised for clarity. These are the entries covered; the rest of the library was not reviewed in this update.
- Puppet Problem-Solving Circle
- Feelings Weather Board
- Move Like the Weather
- Postcards from the Reading Corner
- Snack Shop Counting Play
- Seasonal Change Observer Jars
Free Nursery & Reception sample
Try Story Basket Listening Walk.
See the yearly topic, EYFS learning area, and intended audience before you browse the full library.
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Plan with Reception in mind
Show resources for Reception audiences and the age ranges in this catalogue.
Plan with a childminder setting in mind
Browse resources whose intended audience explicitly includes childminders.
Resource shelf
Showing 12 of 12 starter resources
Practitioner guidance
A visual check-in that gives children a flexible language for emotions and changing states. Keep it available as a low-pressure check-in during arrivals, transitions, or reflective conversations with a trusted adult.
Practitioner guidance
A simple shared ritual that makes care, friendship, and appreciation visible in the room. Set it up as continuous provision for drawing, dictation, mark making, and revisiting how the group cares for one another.
Practitioner guidance
A meaningful writing station that gives children a reason to draw, write, and revisit stories. Add it to a reading corner or writing area to encourage drawing, dictation, emergent writing, and book talk.
Practitioner guidance
A short group-time routine for practising attentive listening, questions, and shared solutions. Set it up as a ten-minute group-time prompt when children need to practise listening, questions, and collaborative…
Practitioner guidance
One small-group activity in a nursery garden or familiar outdoor space: children notice three sounds, then shape them into a shared journey story. Use this worked example in a nursery garden or familiar outdoor area. Children pause to notice or make three gentle sounds, then…
Practitioner guidance
A playful route from listening for sounds to recording marks and composing a shared story. Use it after story time or during a small-group literacy session to turn children’s listening into meaningful marks and messages.
Practitioner guidance
A role-play setup for counting with purpose, comparing quantities, and noticing one more. Use it in a role-play area or small-group maths invitation to practise counting, comparison, one more, and mathematical language.
Practitioner guidance
A small-world setup that helps children connect maps, familiar places, people, and journeys. Use it in small-world or construction provision to develop place knowledge, sequencing, talk, and collaborative role play.
Practitioner guidance
An open-ended pattern invitation using leaves, stones, and sticks collected with care. Use it outdoors or at a maths table when children are ready to explore repetition, comparison, and explaining a rule.
Practitioner guidance
A slow observation station for comparing natural materials and talking about change over time. Set it up as a quiet investigation station over several days, revisiting children’s drawings and predictions as materials change.
Practitioner guidance
A fine-motor invitation where children move small objects with purpose and persistence. Set it up in continuous provision or as a focused invitation when children are ready to strengthen grip, coordination, and…
Practitioner guidance
An energetic movement sequence for exploring balance, direction, speed, and control. Set it up for a short movement break, a music-and-movement session, or a gentle way to explore space and self-regulation.