Education expert James Clements gives his advice on how to choose the right school for your child.
Choosing a primary school
read more
Blog posts for: Age 3-4
Free eBook library: 100s of eBooks to practise reading
Help your young child learn to read, and love to read, with our eBook library, containing hundreds of free eBooks. Developed for children aged 3–11.
Using storytelling to develop reading and writing skills
Early reading specialist Emily Guille-Marrett talks about how oral storytelling can lay the foundations for literacy skills – as well as being great fun.
Great books to get boys reading
John Dougherty shares his top picks for books to encourage and inspire your son to read.
Read Write Inc. guide for parents
Find out what Read Write Inc. Phonics is and find eBooks, videos, and kits to help your child as they learn to read with Read Write Inc. Phonics at home.
Your local library – a forgotten treasure trove
Guest blogger and primary school librarian Clare Turner gives her top five reasons why you should visit the library with your child.
Learn to read with phonics
What is phonics? Find out in our phonics guide for parents. Learn about Letters and Sounds, the phonics screening test, and how to practice phonics at home.
Books to inspire young scientists
Science and engineering provide fantastic career opportunities, but science is not just for scientists – it’s a huge part of everyday life. A good grounding in science will help every child to navigate their world and make good decisions. Isabel Thomas recommends books for ages 3–11 to inspire your young scientist.
The word gap: How to build your child’s vocabulary at home
Oxford University Press surveyed over 1,300 teachers who reported that the word gap is not only affecting children’s achievement at school but also that it can have a damaging impact on self-esteem and children’s ability to make friends. Find out what you can do to encourage language development at home.
Read more >
Early years: Getting ready to write
Here are 5 fun and easy activities you can try at home to build up your child’s co-ordination, strength, and control before they start writing.
Why does your child need a dictionary?
Dictionaries are great for developing your child’s vocabulary, but not just any will do. Publisher Sam Armstrong explains how Oxford Children’s Dictionaries can support your child.
Early years
If your child is aged 3–4, the chances are that they are in some form of Early Years setting, whether at nursery, preschool, or with a childminder. Find out what they’ll be learning and how you can help.
How Numicon can help develop maths skills at home
Early Years teacher and mother Sheila O’Reilly shows us how the 1st Steps with Numicon at Home kit can support your child’s early maths development.
Read with Oxford Stage 1
Read with Oxford is an exciting range of levelled books to build reading confidence at home. Use Stage 1 to start your child on their reading journey.
The wonder of words: How learning new words can help your child
A rich vocabulary allows a child to enjoy their reading, to express themselves and to learn about the world. James Clements offers tips on how to help your child’s vocabulary develop.
WIN a Christmas book bundle!
It’s the season of giving, so we’re celebrating with not just one book of the month, but a whole bundle of festive treats!
How to choose a book for ages 3–7
Children’s librarian Greta Paterson shares her 5 top tips for choosing books for 3–7 year olds.
Cerrie Burnell’s top tips for reading bedtime stories
Sharing a book at bedtime helps develop your child’s vocabulary, gets them used to the idea of regular reading, and gives you both a great opportunity to bond. Children’s author Cerrie Burnell gives us her top tips for getting the most out of bedtime reading.
Early numeracy skills: 6 fun ways to encourage counting
It’s never too early to explore numbers and counting with your child. Encourage early numeracy skills with these 6 great activities.
Top 8 books about starting school
Starting school is a big milestone in a child’s life – not to mention a parent/carer’s too! Here are eight engaging stories and picture books about starting school to share with your child, to gently prepare them for their first day.
Four top tips for getting the most out of non-fiction
There are lots of great reasons to share factual books with your child. Here are our top four tips for getting the most out of reading non-fiction.
Everyday activities to practise subtraction
Subtraction is a key concept in the primary maths curriculum. Here are some easy activities you can try at home to build your child’s skills and confidence.
Matty Long’s top 10 fantasy books for under 5s
Matty Long, author of Super Magic Happy Forest, chooses his favourite fantasy picture books for children under five years old.
Brilliant picture books: 22 beautiful books for children under 5
Wendy Cooling MBE has selected her favourite illustrated books to help you introduce your child to the wonders of stories and storytelling.
Building a strong vocabulary: How to help at home
Headteacher Tracey Smith shares her ideas for fun and easy games you can play to build your child’s vocabulary and boost their confidence with words.
Book of the Month: Big Words for Little People
To celebrate the publication of the brand-new Big Words for Little People series, we’ve got three pairs of books to give away! (November 2020)
8 fun ways to learn about shapes
Shapes are all around us and there are many ways you can start exploring them with your child. Get ideas on how to help familiarise your child with different shapes in all sorts of contexts.
World Book Day costume ideas
Make this year’s celebration of books and reading extra special with our no-sew World Book Day costume ideas, inlcluding Winnie the Witch and Isadora Moon.
Reading: Age 3–4 (Early years)
Find out how your child’s reading skills will develop in nursery. Discover fun activities, ideas, and books to support your 3–4-year-old at home.
Progress with Oxford Age 3–4
Fun activity books to develop early numeracy and literacy skills. Try some free activities and help your child get ready for primary school.
Book of the Month: All Aboard …
To celebrate the publication of the brand-new All Aboard series, we’ve got three pairs of books to give away! (January 2020)
Maths: Age 3–4 (Early Years)
It’s never too early to explore numbers with your child. These ideas will help your child to explore numbers, giving them a great start to developing early maths skills and concepts.
Ordering and counting with Numicon
Early Years teacher and mother Sheila O’Reilly shows us how to use Numicon shapes to help your child learn to count and order numbers.
How to build a girl – books to inspire, encourage, or just reassure your daughter
Books to inspire, encourage, or just reassure your daughter, selected by the award-winning children’s author Joanna Nadin.
10 top tips to help your toddler go to sleep
Discover how to help your child get a good night’s sleep with these tips inspired by our new book for toddlers, Goodnight, Sleep Tight.
Storyteller videos: Julia Donaldson’s Songbirds
Watch Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, read phonically decodable stories from her Read with Oxford Songbirds collections.
Big Words for Little People
A series of picture books created by the language experts at Oxford University Press to introduce young children to the words they need to make sense of their feelings.
The gender gap: how to encourage boys to learn
An important factor in boys’ success at school is what they learn at home. Here are 6 simple ways you can help your child do well in reading and writing.
Boosting early maths skills with number facts
Louise Pennington shows us her top five maths games, including ‘Bunny rabbit ears’ and ‘What’s in the bag?’, to help your child practise their number facts.
Spooky books for children to read this Halloween
From seriously spine-tingling stories to tales about the silliest of spooks, our collection of Halloween reading recommendations is packed full of books to entertain 2–12 year-olds on long, dark autumn nights.
Building reading dens
Isabel Thomas explains how making reading dens with your child can turn reading a book into a special shared adventure with these simple ideas.
Fun Christmas activities for 0–4 year olds
From hand-print Christmas wreaths to games to develop shape recognition skills, discover lots of toddler-friendly crafts and activity ideas to try with your little ones this Christmas!
Cooking with kids – developing early maths skills
Cooking with your child makes for a fun opportunity to talk about maths together. Author Isabel Thomas shares her tips for using maths while cooking.
Summer games and activities
Find activity ideas and book recommendations to keep the kids busy this summer.
Biff, Chip and Kipper: Rhyming Games Flashcards
These exciting rhyming games encourage children to practise their letters and sounds. They will help your child link groups of letters with their sounds, recognise rhyming words, develop memory and concentration skills and develop early reading and spelling skills.
Julia Donaldson’s Songbirds: Phonics Games Flashcards
These exciting phonics games encourage children to practise their letters and sounds and have an awareness of rhyme. They will help children to link groups of letters with their sounds, recognise rhyming words, develop memory and concentration skills and develop early reading and spelling skills.
Julia Donaldson’s Songbirds: Alphabet Games Flashcards
These exciting alphabet games encourage children to practise their letters and sounds and have an awareness of rhyme. They will help children to link groups of letters with their sounds, to recognise individual letter shapes and sounds, and read and spell simple words.
Help your 3–4-year-old child learn
Tips and activities to help your 3- or 4-year-old develop maths and literacy skills at home.
Winnie and Wilbur Around the World
Winnie and Wilbur are visiting the wild animals from their library book in real life. It’s exciting to journey by magic all around the world, but there’s trouble ahead!
Winnie and Wilbur Meet Santa
It’s Christmas Eve and Winnie and Wilbur are super excited. They’ve posted their letters to the North Pole and made everything festive. But then disaster strikes…
Oxford Owl height chart
Measure and record your child’s height as they grow with this height chart.
Storyteller videos
Let our professional storytellers take you on an adventure! Traditional tales, Winnie the witch stories, and more for children aged 3–8.
Numicon: 1st Steps with Numicon at Home Kit
The First Steps with Numicon at Home Kit has been designed for parents and carers of pre-school children (aged 3–5) and uses a multi-sensory approach to help develop essential maths skills during the Foundation Stage and early Key Stage 1.
Numicon: Box of 80 Numicon Shapes
This box of 80 Numicon Shapes provides essential apparatus to parents of children throughout the primary years.
Phonics: The Town Mouse and Country Mouse and Other Tales
This beautifully illustrated Stage 1 book is filled with the traditional stories of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse; The Gingerbread Man; The Enormous Turnip; and Get the Rat. The tales have been re-written so that children can read for themselves and develop their phonics skills.
Biff, Chip and Kipper: I Can Read Kit
Packed full of fun activities, engaging stories and useful tips, this kit provides you with everything you need to celebrate your child’s progress and keep their interest in reading alive. Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy the dog are all at hand to guide your child’s learning, while stickers help build your child’s confidence.
Phonics Age 3–4
This Progress with Oxford activity book will help your child learn the sounds of each letter and understand how those sounds make words. Picture clues show young children how to complete activities with minimal support, and a progress chart, stickers, and a lively character all help make learning phonics fun.
Starting to Write Age 3–4
This activity book will help your child to develop pencil control and form letters correctly. Picture clues show young children how to complete activities with minimal support, and a progress chart, colourful stickers, and a lively character all help make their first steps in learning to write fun and exciting.
abc Age 3–4
This activity workbook will help to build and develop your child’s alphabetical skills. With the help of picture clues, lively characters and a progress chart, young children will quickly learn to recognise the 26 letters of the alphabet, the sounds they make and the sequence of the letters.
Numbers up to 10 Age 3–4
This activity book will help our child to progress with numbers with minimal support while having fun. Picture clues, a progress chart and a lively character help young children to recognise numbers, their names and their digits, as well as understanding how to write them.
Counting up to 10 Age 3–4
This fun activity book will aid in your child’s counting progress. Picture clues and colourful activities make learning how to count from 1 to 10 both fun and exciting. A lively character accompanies your child through the book as they develop independent learning skills.
Colours and Patterns Age 3–4
This activity book will develop your child’s understanding of colours and patterns. With the help of engaging activities and a lively character, your child with quickly learn the names of colours, be able to identify colours in pictures and learn simple patterns.
Shape and Size Age 3–4
This fun activity book will help your child to develop their knowledge of shapes and size. They will quickly learn the names of shapes, recognise their features and learn the vocabulary of measurement and dimension.
Biff, Chip and Kipper: Say and Spell Flashcards
Support your child’s reading development at home with these phonics games. Designed by experts, these games help children to match letters to words and pictures, match letter sounds to letter shapes, read words and spell simple words.
Biff, Chip and Kipper: Stories and Activities Stage 1, Book A
This Stories and Activities book contains two Biff, Chip and Kipper stories in an appealing comic-strip format, along with a wealth of fun activities that will help your child to practise sounds, letters and early reading skills at home.
Biff, Chip and Kipper: Stories and Activities Stage 1, Book B
This Stories and Activities book contains two Biff, Chip and Kipper stories in an appealing comic-strip format, along with a wealth of fun activities that will help your child to practise sounds, letters and early reading skills at home.
Copyright Oxford University Press 2020
