We’ve been enjoying twinkl for a little while and now it’s time to introduce it to you! Twinkl is a useful resource for teachers, parents, home educators, nurseries, and daycares. It’s loaded with resources for every season and occasion and in several different formats such as powerpoints, printables, lesson plans, bunting, games, etc.
Literacy and numeracy are the main topics included in the Twinkl site. You can search by theme, UK Early Years, Key Stages 1 & 2, SEN, IPC, topic, etc.
I find this useful as an expat in the UK as I can see where Tristan’s level would be at a school. But of course the resources can be used anywhere. I’ve found that £ money resources are hard to find, but there are lots here. If you’re not in the UK you can still use this currency to teach children about world currencies.
The Parents section I’ve found very useful. It includes many resources and helpful tips. You can print off posters for table manners, punctuation help (I know I need a refresher!), behaviour charts, help on understanding the different levels of math abilities, crafts, recipes, and so many more things to keep you informed and your child occupied!
The more I look through twinkl and explore the more I find myself downloading for current or future use! You can easily lose time wandering around and becoming familiar with the resources that are found here. This review was meant to be done much earlier, but I kept finding fun things for the kids to do and wanted to try them out before writing this up…then along came another email or Facebook link to something else that would catch my eye and time slipped away so quickly!
Put your print outs inside poly pockets/page protectors and you’ll be able to use them over and over again with dry-erase markers, thus saving yourself the trouble of printing them over again, as well as saving money on paper and ink. By doing this they’ll also be kept tidy and organised in a ring binder!
In the past two weeks alone we’ve used coin counting, play dough mats, number lines, learning to tell the time, harvest festivals, and other resources. I’m thinking the next unit we may explore will be the “ourselves” resources. The lesson plan gives lots of ideas and conveniently links through to applicable resources. Or first maybe we’ll dive into the fire safety unit for Fire Safety week!
The friendly folk behind the scenes at Twinkl are very approachable and open to suggestions for further resources if you have something in mind that isn’t already in their library. There is also a forum to interact with other and ask questions.
Twinkl is well known in the teaching world here. When I mentioned it to a teacher friend of mine she said she’s used it in her classes. I like to find new (to me) resources; but I value them even more when they have been used by people I know and trust.
We just love this bespoke sign that Jules made just for Tristan! I’ve been meaning to make one myself, and haven’t had the time to do it, but this is perfect!
There are different levels of Twinkl available. There are loads of resources you can use for free, but you can access a further 10,000 resources, including the powerpoints by signing up for the Premium Gold or Platinum accounts that would be well worth the cost for any teacher/carer of young children. I’ve received a premium subscription for reviewing this service and giving you my honest opinion about it.
When you sign up to Twinkl, you will receive timely emails that alert you to new or seasonal resources that you may find helpful, but don’t worry your inbox won’t be clogged up. There is also a twinkl Facebook page that is active and keeps you up to date on new resources and forum discussions. If Twitter is more your speed, then click here to connect. Twinkl has a very organised Pinterest account for you to follow, and you can also find them on Google+
If you’d like to see more of the ways in which we’ve used twinkl’s resources, see our reviews page.
