Having picked up a couple of free resources from twinkl.co.uk before, we at BAPN were thrilled to be given a platinum subscription to review. We started in the Parent section, thinking it would have some helpful ways to support homework and prepare children for school, and were particularly impressed by the helpsheet on phonics. This is a tricky topic for many people working with children out of school as it wasn’t the way we were taught to read and it wasn’t the approach taken when many of us were training. As a nanny it can be difficult to keep up to date with the latest developments in schools so this guide helps to break it down quickly and easily into what you really need to know. All the resources can be printed easily and have fun, detailed illustrations. We particularly liked the cutting skills workbook – it’s beautifully designed and gives children the opportunity to progress from cutting straight lines to more complex cutting out.
We also took a peek at the Early Years area, which had some brilliant lessons plans that could easily be adapted for use at home. The Autumn one is full of stunning ideas and easy cross-links make it so simple to find the activities needed. Many nannies like to work with loose topics that a child has shown an interest in. The IPC (which stands for International Primary Curriculum) has some brilliant ideas for themes covering animals to transport, and our personal favourite – treasure (that means pirates, me hearties!).
If you’re interested in resources to reinforce a particular area such as numeracy or literacy the layout makes it really easy to home in on what you need. There’s a great range and often a topic is presented with many different types of resource. We used a selection of resources on shape which included colouring in, playdough mats, dominoes and cutting out. There were obvious links to other areas of learning – for example asking a child to colour certain shapes one colour and other shapes a different colour. If we had a tiny criticism of the way things are labelled it would be that we want more info on what skills are being worked on apart from the obvious one you searched for.
Even if you’re just looking for something to keep children occupied, or to involve younger charges while older siblings are doing homework, there are tons of different themed activities so you should find something for everyone. Twinkl have also kindly provided a forum for users, sensibly divided by age, stage and role (although there sadly isn’t a section for nannies). It’s a bit quiet in there but hopefully it’ll liven up.
It’s well worth paying for a subscription in our opinion, because then you get instant access to all the newest resources. It’s a reasonable price – £24.99 per year for the Gold service and £39.99 for the Platinum service for individuals – and if you volunteer in a school let them know that Twinkl are offering a free trial for schools. For members of BAPN we have one platinum subscription to give away! All you have to do is email us with your membership number saying ‘I love twinkl’ to be entered into the draw.
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