Early Years Resources Review

19th June 2018

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By Emma Davis

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing some items from Early Years Resources. One of them was a resource we’ve used to encourage and develop children’s story telling skills and the other is a set to complement the ‘Five Little Ducks’ song.

Really Random Story Bags:

The Really Random Story Bags have been used by the Practitioners at my setting with our older Preschool children. Not only are the bags a whole lot of fun but they have incredible learning potential. Children can choose items from the three cloth bags – Where (contains 10 scene cards), Who (includes 6 characters) and What (15 random objects). Just putting their hand in the bag is a conversation starter as children think about what it feels like and what it could be. Fantastic for developing descriptive language!


As the resource is open ended, children have freedom to let their imagination run wild with this wonderful set. They can decide which character will feature in their story, choose a scene to set the adventure and random objects to include. It’s fabulous for developing language and communication skills as children are encouraged to create their own story, telling it to a friend, having it scribed by an adult or adding their own props to extend it further. As children become more able writers, the bags offer incredible potential to prompt creative writing, either independently or in groups.

Each set of the Really Random Story Bags contain different items – the more you have, the greater the range of objects children will have to build their stories around.
These bags really are an incredible addition to our setting and are freely chosen by children to play with in small groups. Independent learning can take place as well as being facilitated by an adult. A great product!

Five Little Ducks set:

The Five Little Ducks set is a wonderful rhyming resource which is enjoyed by children aged 2-4 at my setting. The resource includes six beanie ducks, five of which are the ‘little’ ducks and one is the ‘mummy’ duck. The blue fabric bag it comes in opens out to make a 60cm pond for the ducks to swim on and the rhyme card included means that there’s no excuse to forget the words!

Some children choose to use the set independently in small groups with friends but it is also used by an adult during circle time, story time and in focus group activities. It provides a fun, hands on way for children to learn the rhyme, count and recognise that a quantity changes when one is taken away. Children can engage with the song, choosing a duck to take away when the time comes then adding them back at the end.

The quality of the resource is impressive and it’s apparent that the set will withstand the usual wear and tear associated with children’s play. This really is a great resource to complement the song and quickly became a favourite with the children.

Visit the Early Years Resources website to see their full range of amazing products! www.earlyyearsresources.co.uk

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