Stories

Shake your shakers to the banjo music as Jackie sings ‘I Come From Alabama.’ Then listen to the story ‘The Blue Balloon’ by Mick Inkpen.

Grab your shakers and practice vowel sounds with Jackie as she sings ‘Apples and Bananas.’ Then she reads ‘Penguin’ by Polly Dunbar, which is all about a boy who is determined to get his pet penguin to talk to him.

Do you have a budding astronaut at home? Try this simple science project from Science Sparks to teach your kids about air pressure. All you will need is an empty plastic milk bottle, a piece of paper, some tape, and whatever your kids want to use to decorate their rocket.

As mentioned on Science Sparks, this activity is a great accompaniment to the story ‘Whatever Next!’ by Jill Murphy. If you don’t have the book, you and your child can read it here.

Help your child renew their enthusiasm for their book collection with this literary scavenger hunt from Primary Playground.

Join Popcorn the Dolphin in an adventure to follow the map and find the treasure before the pirates. Get your kids stretching and moving with this pirate-themed yoga from Cosmic Kids Yoga! This video is 15 minutes long, so your child may not be interested in completing the whole thing in one go, and they might not be able to copy all the moves perfectly. It’s okay to try a couple of moves, and then revisit it another time to do a bit more.

Follow along with the actions as Jackie sings ‘All The Little Ducks.’ Then she reads the very silly book ‘Dinosaurs Love Underpants’ by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort.

Do your children love Disney’s Frozen movie? Try getting them stretching and moving with some Frozen-themed yoga from Cosmic Kids Yoga! This video is 30 minutes long, so your child may not be interested in completing the whole thing in one go, and they might not be able to copy all the moves perfectly. It’s okay to try a couple of moves, and then revisit it another time to do a bit more.

Illustrator of The Gruffalo, Axel Scheffler, and publisher Nosy Crow have just released a free digital book to help parents explain coronavirus to their children. Although it is geared towards 5-9 year olds, there is plenty of helpful information in it that preschool parents can use to answer questions like ‘Why can’t we go outside?’ and ‘Why can’t we visit Granny?’ You can read the book below, download your own copy, or print it out for your kids.

With colourful illustrations and lovely rhymes, this book is perfectly geared towards young children to give them a basic understanding of coronavirus. It was written by University of Exeter medical student Annis Watts.

This episode of Song & Storytime is not to be missed! Your little ones will be laughing along and shouting at the screen as Jackie introduces her silly puppet, Casper. Participate in several call and response songs to see what sort of reaction you can get from Casper when Jackie isn’t looking!

Today’s book is actually a song, ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.’ Enjoy the pictures on each page as Jackie sings her way through this silly story.