Welcome to the Print Play Learn Blog!

Scroll through our archives for lots of early years and primary teaching tips and advice from former teacher & our founder, Michelle.

Can't find what you're looking for? Find us on Instagram for more inspiration or contact us to ask a question and we'll do our best to answer it on the blog in future.

Featured Post

How to Enhance Your Child’s Home Education on a Budget

How to Enhance Your Child’s Home Education on a Budget Despite many parents’ fears, while there are some additional costs, home education doesn’t need to be expensive. With the right mindset, it’s possible to keep costs down and enhance your child’s learning experiences without breaking the bank. Here’s how: 1. Embrace Unschooling Unschooling is like …read more Read More
sofa kids toys playing and learning at home

Discover the Print Play Learn resources and find out more about the benefits for you as a:

Latest Posts

4 Fun Ways To Use a Mud Kitchen

So you want some quick ways to jazz up your mud kitchen, then this post is for you ! Mud kitchens are very popular now, especially as many companies are making them for homes as well as schools. You don’t need to buy an expensive mud kitchen, all you need is a little outdoor space, …read more Read More

Spring Topics Days 2019 for UK Schools

Below is listed some useful Spring Topic Days. February Friday 1st February is Number Day 2019, click here to take you to the NSPCC website to register your school for resources and ideas. Throughout February I will be joining in Our Sensory Kids #oursensorywinter , check it out on my Instagram. Chinese New Year is celebrated on …read more Read More

4 Fantastic Alphabet Books for the Home

So this week I had a look at the Alphabet Books I use at home to support my 1 and 4 year old this is only part 1, yes I have a lot! I didn’t keep to three, there are four but really there are so many alphabet books which are amazing and I’ll do …read more Read More

A Quick Simple Valentine Playdough Recipe – a simple recipe guide

With Valentine’s Day in just over a month I thought it would be a good idea to share a valentine playdough activity.  A quick simple playdough recipe to use in the classroom or even make it at home. In the recipe I’ve used the no cook method which is super easy. I find when I …read more Read More

What is Kamishibai? All Explained By The Sidlaw Hare

I’m very excited to introduce the first guest post on the blog. I met Wendy Duncan through the Indie Roller group. She is so enthusiastic about kamishibai, the magical art of Japanese story telling. What is Kamishibai? Have a read below to find out more. The Sidlaw Hare Hi, I’m Wendy and I make kamishibai.  …read more Read More

20 Easy Ideas for Halloween Play at Home

Halloween is a great time of year to have lots of fun with play and learning. I thought I would share a few ideas to support planning for October. Pumpkin Painting I loved doing this with my son. Before cutting out the pumpkin face, we decorated it with paint – it makes a change from …read more Read More

Harriet + Violet is now Print Play Learn

Harriet + Violet is now Print Play Learn. The website is still the same it’s just the name that has changed. I created H+V back in 2013 to share free printable teaching resources online. When teaching, time is so tight so I wanted to help teachers like myself have instant access to printable resources. I …read more Read More

A Parents Guide: What is Phonics?

Education is filled with jargon that, as a parent and sometimes as a teacher, can be confusing and hard to understand. When it comes to children learning how to read, phonics is a term you will hear a lot. But what is phonics and how is it used in the classroom? In this post I’ll …read more Read More

A Quick Ocean Play Dough Recipe and Invitation to Play

I created this ocean play dough scene using one of the invitations to play from my Play Dough Play Pack. First I used the coloured play dough recipe to create a light blue play dough. What you need: 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of salt 1 cup of water 2 tbsp of oil 2 …read more Read More

Setting up a Year 1 Classroom – quick printable resources guide

I just thought I’d write a quick list of all the things you may use in a Year 1 classroom to start you off. You could have themes for different areas or just one theme running in your classroom, there are so many different ways to do it. I have linked to some of my …read more Read More

Sand Play Dough Recipe

As we had just bought some fresh play sand I thought we should try out a sand play dough recipe! This was the first time I had tried this recipe and found it was quite sticky to begin with, so I added a little more flour which helped. This is a no cook recipe but …read more Read More

Creating an Inviting Book Corner – at School or Home

I’ve always found that book corners need to be inviting, comfy places where children and adults want to spend time. I wanted to share few ideas I’ve used in my classroom over the years as well as some inspiration taken from other teachers and colleagues.  It may sound ridiculous but I don’t just have one book area at …read more Read More

Pirate Play Dough Invitation to Play

Follow these instructions to make the purple coloured play dough for this invitation to play. You can of course just use bought play dough but I prefer home made as it’s softer for smaller hands. Once I have the play dough, I collect objects suitable for my son to play with; glass pebbles (I’ll always watch him …read more Read More

Phonics Play Pack

I’m so excited, the Phonics Play Pack is now available and ready to be purchased. There are 40 different games to play and they can easily be adapted to suit the needs of your class or an individual child. I’ve popped a few tips and challenges alongside some of the games to give a few …read more Read More

Step by Step Instructions for Making Play Dough

Here is my step by step recipe for making play dough. I made a dark purple play with these instructions but it can be easily adapted to a colour of your choice. I chose to use icing colour to make the colour, which is more of a paste and makes a stronger colour than food …read more Read More

An Easy Lavender Playdough Recipe

Do you want to know how to make Lavender playdough? Then read below. This playdough recipe is perfect, create a soothing, calming lavender play dough. Ingredients for the lavender play dough: 1 cup of flour 1 cup of water 1/2 cup of salt 1 – 2 tbsp of oil 2 tsp of creme of tartar …read more Read More

“I’m ready to get printing, get playing and watch them learn!”