Teach basic school skills through play with fun toys
As the end of another school year fast approaches, parents of preschoolers starting school in September are being urged to help their child learn key school readiness skills ahead of the new 2025/26 school year. On average teachers spend 2.4 hours per day supporting children to catch up and 33% of children are reported as not school ready by teachers despite 90% of parents believing their child is ready for school.*
The brand new Starting Reception website, which was spearheaded by Kindred Squared together with nurseries and educational organisations nationwide, aims to define what being ready to start reception means. Parents and EYE settings can access the website to find ways in which they can help their child prepare for school as well as meeting crucial developmental milestones.
Leading educational toy manufacturer Learning Resources has a wide range of school readiness products that are designed to support parents giving them inspiration across six key developmental areas; self-care and independence, social and emotional skills, routines, language and communication, motor skills and classroom readiness.
Lisa, a member of the Learning Resources Teacher Panel said: ‘One of our biggest struggles is getting parents/carers to understand that being school ready is not writing their names and knowing the alphabet etc.’
The extensive school readiness ranges from Learning Resources includes:
Growing Independence
Dressing Skills Bean Bags – Help little hands master real-world dressing skills with the Dressing Skills Bean Bags. The bean bags feature illustrations of 8 commonly used items of clothing or shoes on one side, with their matching fastenings on the other. As they use the zip, toggle, buttons, shoelace, and more, children will become more confident at getting undressed and dressed on their own. After the learning fun is over, the bean bags store inside the included drawstring bag. RRP £29.95
Rainbow Visual Timer – Brighten up your home or child’s bedroom with this colourful light-up Rainbow Visual Timer that helps children see and understand elapsed time. It can be used to help with time management, and for sensory breaks with 5 settings (1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 minutes). It can be used to teach time management and the bright rainbow stripes either light up or go dark to show elapsed time.
The cute timer can also be used as a comforting nightlight and the timer counts down from 15 minutes to let children know when it is time to sleep. The Rainbow Visual Timer is a valuable tool to support neurodiverse children, providing concrete representation of time passing that also helps to reduce feelings of anxiety. RRP £18.00
Tock the Learning Clock – Tock the Learning Clock is a learning clock that helps children to tell the time. Simply turn the clock hands and Tock will announce the time. Tock comes with both digital and analogue clocks and has two learning modes. Use Quiz Mode by pressing the question mark to answer three time questions or switch to Music Mode. Press the music button and turn the clock hands to any time for a silly song surprise. There’s also a night light function to let little learners know when it’s ok to get out of bed in the morning. RRP £32.95
Healthy Routines
2-Minute Toothbrushing Timer – Help your child brush their teeth for the recommended 2 minutes a day with this fun 2-Minute Toothbrushing Timer. It’s easy to use and fits in most bathrooms. Once children apply toothpaste to their toothbrushes, they press down on the toothbrushing icon to activate the timer. Listen for the sparkle sound – that’s when it’s time to stop brushing. RRP £10.96
Building Relationships and Communication
My Feelings Bean Bags – Help young children identify and express their feelings and emotions with this set of 10 tactile bean bags. Each beanbag features a printed emotion image, including happy, sad, angry, surprised, loved, scared, peaceful, excited, sleepy, and disappointed, in a colour and texture that corresponds uniquely to that emotion. The beanbags store in the included drawstring carry bag and come with a handy activity guide. RRP £29.95
Motor Skills and Classroom Readiness
The Light-Up Tracing Centre is a fun way for little ones to practise writing letters and numbers ahead of starting school and when they join KS1. Children can choose a card, then use the stylus to copy that shape in the red play sand to create a glowing, light-up letter or number. The stylus helps children get used to the feeling of holding a pencil to write and they will learn to recognise numbers and letters. RRP £27.50
To see the full School Readiness range, visit: Learning Resources
Read more about how to help children get Big School ready by reading this dedicated blog post: Getting Big School Ready with Learning Resources
