Whether your little one starts school this September or still has another year to go, we’ve discovered some fantastic products to help prepare children for their first day and make the idea of starting school fun! 

Here are The SEN Resources Blog’s top ten products for preparing to  start primary school: 

1. Learning Resources Pretend & Play Original School Set (UK version)

The kids love playing pretend schools with this. It’s packed full of tonnes of resources including a clock, map, stickers, whiteboard, homework sheets and even a school bell.

2. Carddies School Set  a portable, colouring kit that is made up of a scene and little people to colour in. The idea is that the child can colour in the scene and people and then have hours of imaginative play with them! 

3. Alex Toys Early Learning Ready Set School Little Hands

Stickers, stencils, alphabet, how to tie your shoes..there’s so many fun activities in this pack to prepare kids for starting school. 

4. Wedge Whiteboards A4 Magnetic Dry-Wipe Board & Literacy Accessories Set – Lower Case Letters (RED)

We love this versatile resource. Children can practise mark making and writing with the whiteboard pens. They can also learn to make simple words using the alphabet magnets. Find out more about the benefits for children of having a whiteboard at home here

5.School (First Time)

Part of the First Time Series this is an adorable picture book that takes children through a ‘normal’ school day.  

6. We couldn’t pick our favourite Orchard Toys’ game for preparing children for school, so chose two instead- we love both these games for helping children who are starting to learn the alphabet and spell basic words- Orchard Toys Match and Spell Game

Orchard Toys Alphabet Lotto Game

7.Starting School Sticker Book (First Sticker Books)

Sticker books are popular with a lot of children, this one is fantastic as children can learn about the ins and outs of a school day- from putting their uniform on to taking part in an art lesson. We’ve found that the sticker books by Usborne are always made to a really high standard too. 

8.Starting School (Picture Puffins)

A beautiful book to help children prepare for starting school.

9.Playmobil City Life School House  Playmobil is lovely for imaginative play. This set is ideal for children who are due to start school as it helps them practise the school routines through pretend play. 

10. Twinkl 

We are big fans of Twinkl which provides teachers and parents with downloadable learning resources (see our Twinkl Resource reviews here) and they have a whole section on ‘Starting School’ with resources such as tick sheets to help check your child is ready for their first day!

What about older siblings?

And if you’re in need of a little something for older siblings to involve them in helping their younger sister/brother in getting ready for school… well we’d recommend this set by Wannabees. Pretend Teacher Set for Kids  Their sets are brilliant for providing children with tonnes of resources for role play. 

 Have you read our top tips for preparing kids for school yet? If not click here