Fiona, of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers, worked as environmental educator, in a range of learning support roles and she is currently a tutor.
Through Teachers Telling Tales she aspires to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities.
Fiona, of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers, worked as environmental educator, in a range of learning support roles and she is currently a tutor.
Through Teachers Telling Tales she aspires to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities.
A cool creative pack of ice cream goodies, ideal for summer topics or parties. Contains 3 activities:
Ice cream cone symmetry. complete the pictures so the delicious dessert is the same on both sides (3 designs).
‘I dream of ice cream’ design your perfect ice cream template, single and double cone versions.
Ice cream creative colouring sheets (4 designs).
Great for talking about colours, flavours, toppings, preferences.
There are similar symmetry resources featuring ice lollies in the Teachers Telling Tales shop: /teaching-resource/ice-lolly-symmetry-12355898
You can also purchase this resource with other ice lolly resources as part of the ‘Ice Ice Bundle’.
Creating these cute ice lolly characters is a fun activity for learning about symmetry. The challenge is to draw the missing side of the picture so it is the same on both sides. A grid over the image helps with drawing shapes and placing details in the correct place. You could also use a mirror, place it along the middle line to check in the reflection. There are 3 character designs to complete, two ice lolly shapes with no detail and a blank grid for creating your own designs. Colour and ink saving versions included.
Children love to create a name for their finished lolly and for an extra challenge can design the wrapper using the blank grid.
Check out the ice cream symmetry resources and other ice lolly activities by Teachers Telling Tales for summer topics or parties.
This resource can also be purchased as part of the ‘Ice Ice Bundle’.
Get creative colouring these cool ice lollies. There are 4 character designs and 6 outlines of different shaped lollies to colour. Great for talking about flavours, colours, patterns and preferences.
As a challenge, children could think up a name for their ice lolly and maybe even design the packaging too.
Print or stick on card for creating textured lollies using collage with sequins, beads etc.
Check out the other ice lolly and ice cream resources by Teachers Telling Tales. This resource is included in the ‘Ice Ice Bundle’.
Chill out this summer by making cool ice lollies! Outlines to print, colour or decorate using collage. Fold in half and paste with a lollipop stick (real or made from the template). Ten designs.
Ideas for use:
Design your own lolly - choose your shape, colour, pattern, flavour, toppings etc. Great as a stimulus for speaking or writing.
Use for role play, (no dripping unless you use a lot of glue!)
Use beads, sequins, pom poms etc. for sprinkles.
Create a cool character. Add eyes, arms, cool sunglasses etc. Googly eyes and pipe cleaners are great for this!
Make a puppet show with your characters.
At home: a great craft activity for a party or play date.
At school or play scheme: these make a fantastic display.
This is a good way to keep children occupied after making real ice lollies and waiting for them to freeze.
Check out the other ice lolly and ice cream resources by Teachers Telling Tales. You can also purchase this resources as part of the ‘Ice Ice Bundle’.
A massive minibeasts collection! Perfect for a topic on creepy crawlies and their flying friends. A range of activities from movement, board games, sudoku puzzles, mazes, Who Am I? quiz, book making, fine motor and cutting skills.
Good for mixed ability classes, students learning English and anyone who loves these little critters!
Logic and reasoning skills with a minibeasts theme. Featuring cute cartoon creepy crawlies, these activities are a fun way to develop thinking skills. Students cut and paste pictures to complete the sequences and sudoku squares.
Easy, medium and hard versions for different levels of challenge.
Ink saving variations included (different puzzles to the colour ones).
Perfect for a minibeasts topic, a challenge for early finishers or a discrete lesson in problem solving.
For related minibeasts resources, check out the Teachers Telling Tales shop, there are bundle and save options.
Guess the minibeasts in a quiz (PowerPoint presentation), make up your own quiz then create a mini book.
Through describing and guessing, children develop their knowledge about minibeasts and vocabulary related to colours, patterns, parts of the body, ways of moving, prepositions, habitats.
For more of a challenge students can engage in research to find out more (links to suggested websites included).
Instructions and templates for differing abilities are included for making origami books, a ‘mini mystery minibeast’ book!
The teacher’s guide has all the information, the quiz questions and screenshots for easy reference.
Check out the other minibeasts themed resources in the Teachers Telling Tales shop with bundle and save options.
Updated March 2025 to two files (presentation and pack with printables)
Lots of fun activities to explore where minibeasts are found. Good for learning new vocabulary related to insects and small creatures, the natural world and prepositions. Can be used for games and classroom display.
Contains
a set of habitat cards and minibeast cards for sorting and matching activities.
which way home activity, choose and follow the lines
tracing lines, great for emerging writing and fine motor skills
mazes for more of a challenge
The minibeasts cards are perfect for creating class pictographs, of favourite minibeasts.
Try sorting minibeasts into groups, e.g. things that fly, nocturnal, etc.
Check out the other minbeasts resources in the Teachers Telling Tales shop, you can bundle and save.
Updated March 2025 to one file with added educator guide and poetry activity.
This resource pack features a board game and a set of cards with ten minibeasts and corresponding movements.
The cards are great for brain breaks and circle times.
With the board game children perform the action when they land on the minibeast, for example, spin when they land on a spider.
There are variation prompts on the game such as saying a fact about the animal, saying how many legs it has or saying where it lives. The board also features pictures of where minibeasts are commonly found, for example, logs, flowers, a pond.
There are minibeast habitats resources (as well as a range of other minibeast activities) in the Teachers Telling Tales shop.
Updated March 2025 to one file with improved resolution and links to similar resources.
Improve cutting skills by cutting along the lines. Test skills with zig zag (straight) and wavy lines. Cute cartoon minibeasts at the end of each dotted line.
Check out the other minibeasts resources in the Teachers Telling Tales shop.
Updated March 2025 with a third sheet and links to similar resources.
Sudoku is a fun way to develop concentration and reasoning skills. The challenge is to enter numbers (or in this case pictures) into grids so none are repeated in each row or column. These games feature pirate themed pictures, students cut and paste to complete the grids. This gives them the option of moving the pictures around before sticking them down.
There are 3 by 3 and 4 by 4 grids and three levels of challenge: easy, tricky and deadly. As well as improving thinking skills, the games are good for consolidating pirate topic vocabulary.
Updated April 2025 with all puzzles in one pack.
Pirate anagrams are a great way to introduce or reinforce topic vocabulary and practise spelling.
There are two levels of difficulty, the simplest with picture clues. They can be kept to refer to when completing writing tasks to assist with spelling. Also useful as an activity for early finishers. Greyscale versions are included for ink-saving or for those who like to colour in their work.
The worksheets can be downloaded on their own or as part of a Pirates Pack, check out the other pirate themed resources by Teachers Telling Tales.
Updated April 2025 to include more challenging version and a guide.
A bundle of fishy fun!
Perfect for ocean and sea topics or exploring language, shape, pattern and colour.
Includes mazes, dot-to-dots, tracing and colouring pages, Bingo and card games. Activity sheets at different levels of challenge with matching, cutting and sticking and beginning reading and writing skills.
These sheets inspired by Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins feature little fish and some new fishy friends created by Teachers Telling Tales. They are great for developing fine motor skills, awareness of shape and pattern and early writing skills.
The fishy characters feature in a range of resources by Teachers Telling Tales on opposites, rhyming words and puzzles. They can be bought individually or you can bundle and save.
Updated March 2025 so all sheets in one file with links to similar resources.
Featuring the beloved little fish and his mum from the story by Lucy Cousins, these activities explore the rhyming words: tiny and spiny, hairy and scary, carrot and parrot, lime and time, heart and dart. This pack contains sets of picture, silhouette and word cards, Bingo cards and simple worksheets with three levels of challenge.
There are greyscale versions of resources for those who want to save ink or include colouring as part of the activity.
Themes: rhyming words, fish, under the sea
Skills: shape recognition, cut and sticking, colouring, beginning reading and writing skills.
A guide is enclosed with the pack which includes ideas for card games.
These activities are a great springboard for creative work, inventing new rhyming fish.
This resource is part of a Teachers Telling Tales series inspired by the Hooray for Fish story and can also be purchased as part of a bundle.
Updated April 2025:
compiled in one pack for ease of use
improved quality of images
Featuring the beloved little fish and his mum from the story by Lucy Cousins, these activities explore the opposites: big and little, fat and thin and happy and grumpy. This pack contains sets of picture, silhouette and word cards and simple worksheets with three levels of challenge.
There are greyscale versions of resources for those who want to save ink or include colouring as part of the activity.
Themes: opposites, fish, under the sea
Skills: shape recognition, cut and sticking, colouring, beginning reading and writing skills.
A guide is enclosed with the pack which includes ideas for card games.
This resource is part of a Teachers Telling Tales series inspired by the Hooray for Fish story and can also be purchased as part of a bundle.
Updated April 2025:
compiled in one file for ease of use
improved quality of images
guide to resource
links to similar resources
Poems are a wonderful way to inspire a love of language in children. This pack features poems across a range of themes including animals, ocean, jungle, garden, farm and space and are great for enriching cross curricular topics. The activities inspired by the poems are designed for a range of abilities and learning needs with differentiation embedded. Activities include listen/read and draw/colour, checklists, card games, scavenger hunts, sequencing and matching.
In ‘Quack! said the Billy Goat’, the silly poem by Charles Causley, the animal sounds are all mixed up. The poem is fantastic for learning about farm animals, the sounds they make and using speech bubbles.
Children enjoy making the sounds and exploring how to write them.
This resource comes with a guide with suggestions for introducing the poem, shared reading ideas to involve children and follow up games.
There are animal silhouette pictures, animal names and speech bubbles with sounds. These are in the form of a picture for retelling the poem and to make cards for games and activities.
These worksheets feature a selection of poems from Commotion in the Ocean and Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae. Students are given the rhyming words to choose from to fill the gaps. There is space for drawing when the work is complete. There are greyscale (black and white) versions for saving on ink.
These writing frames are designed to inspire young children to engage in purposeful recording through mark-making or emergent writing during their role play.
Topics: Personal Social Health Education, People who help us, Keeping healthy, parts of the body, numbers 1-5.
Skills development: speaking and listening, beginning writing.
Depending on their developmental stage, children may enjoy mark-making as they see fit, or they may follow the invitation to write names, crosses, ticks and circles.
The pictures are designed to prompt discussion and introduce and consolidate vocabulary.
The frame introduces the concept of forms and tables and includes numbers 1-5.
The writing frames can act as a guide for children role playing a visit to the doctor, prompting questions and responses such as “Where is the problem?†and “Take medicine three times a day.†The first time the frames are introduced, it would be good for an adult to model using them.
Context and Linked Resources
This resource pack was inspired by A Visit From the Nurse https://teacherstellingtales.com/a-visit-from-the-nurse/ an activity to help students overcome anxiety about visiting the school nurse (or other health care professionals).
In that lesson students observe how a nurse cares for us by demonstrating with soft toys in a range of familiar scenarios, e.g. “I bumped my head, I feel sick, I feel itchyâ€.
These are free to download here /teaching-resource/a-visit-from-the-nurse-12174039.
As a follow up, children then explore being a carer through role play. This could be with other children (as a patient or carer) or with toys and dolls. The role play area could be set up as a health centre, hospital, veterinary clinic etc.
Includes
Greyscale versions, as you may need to print lots if they are popular! These can be made into a notebook (perhaps a prescription pad) or attached to a clipboard.
Colour versions could be laminated and used as examples displayed in the role play area, or used by the children with dry wipe pens.