Today I’ve been working on some writing ladders. These are sentences with blanks in them for children to fill in. I’ve designed them with no right or wrong answers, so children can use their creativity and invent their own answers. The whole point is to fire their imaginations and get them practising their writing. The level 1 writing ladder, for children in reception, is a free downloadable PDF that you can download here. It’s worth printing it out if you can, as there is a nice certificate at the end to congratulate them for completing all 10 level 1 writing ladders.

I like these for younger children because it shows them that, unlike most “fill in the blanks” activities, they don’t have to guess the correct words with these and can just write whatever they want to make the story go! They’re very simple little stories at level one but they could be used as a lesson starter with children who are already gaining confidence writing their letters or as a main activity with children who still need more practice with letter forms and making words. Some children will need more support with completing these than others.

Some children will breeze through these quite quickly! That tells you that it’s time for a harder challenge!