In January we added the Jolly Songs and Spoken Guide to our download store. These audio resources support the synthetic phonics programme produced by Jolly Learning. Jolly Phonics is used in schools around the world and is highly successful way of teaching young children to read.

Jolly Phonics is a structured, multi sensory approach to teaching reading and as part of the available resources, has a set of graded, decodeable reading books to support new readers.

We are thrilled that Jolly Learning have made the audio tracks to accompany these readers available for our customers through our download store, BookShelf.

The Jolly Readers are available in three sets, Red, Yellow and Green level. Each level consists of 18 books and includes stories about Inky, Snake and Bee, general fiction and non fiction. Each book is written with decodeable text and introduces tricky words as appropriate. As children progress through the levels, the sentences lengthen and more tricky words are introduced. All of these titles are now available to download from the BookShelf download store.

Each audio book is carefully recorded to make it easy for children to follow the text. Generous timing between each page gives children time to move from page to page, and page turns are clearly signaled. Children will easily follow the stories supporting their emerging reading skills and giving them confidence to become independent readers.

The audio stories are available to purchase and download in sets of 6 titles priced from £4.00 a set, or you can download a whole level of 18 tracks from £11.95. All audio titles include the site license for use throughout the school on your StoryPhones systems or MP3 players.

Why not listen to a sample from the Jolly Readers Red Level.

Hilary James and Simon Mayor have over 20 years experience of writing and performing for children and are two of the UK’s leading songwriters and musicians They have worked as songwriters and musical directors for BBC TV and Radio on well known children’s programmes such as Play School, Playaway and The Song Tree. Simon is also one of the world’s leading mandolin players and composers and Hilary is an accomplished musician and has a voice described by BBC Radio 4 as ‘one Britain’s finest voices’.

Hilary and Simon’s amazing talent and skill have combined to create fine,  humorous songs for children of all ages. These songs are laugh out loud funny, with clever plays on words, story telling and brilliant music.

The songs also support many of the National Curriculum requirements for language and literacy and music and will support any creative curriculum activities.

We are delighted to have Hilary and Simon’s songs in our download store and  all five Musical Mystery Tour Albums and a  collection of gentle lullabies are now available to download. The songs cover a wide range of subjects from Harry the Hungry Horse to King Canute! The albums cost £6.00 each or you can purchase individual songs for 80p each, these prices include a site license for use in the whole of your school or nursery. All you need to do is enter our download store, and click on the ‘music’ or ’songs’ tag on the left hand panel. Why not  listen to  The Parrot Song, Harry the Hiccupping Horse or a gentle lullaby Lavender’s Blue!

Often on our travels we meet wonderful, creative people developing and designing brilliant resources and ideas and occassionally we like to share them on our blog. 

We met Helen from a company called Infinite Edge at an Early Years Event in Sunderland recently and I was so impressed by their designs for outdoor spaces, trim trails and play structures. It was the clever combination of structure, colour, light and shade that caught my eye. I could just imagine a child standing under one of Helen and Sam’s canopies trying to catch colours in their hands as the sun created patterns through the canopies, climbing and exploring throught the logs and structures or trailing fingers in the water courses.

The combination of design, structure and colour inspires children to play and explore using the natural environment. Helen and her colleague, Sam, are particularly interested in the use of space and its potential for expanding learning opportunities. They use materials in new and unusual ways, landscaping playgrounds, providing interactive equipment, outdoor classrooms, story-telling areas, stages and much more. The children often have opportunities to be involved in the planning and building, helping to create their own outdoor spaces.

If you would like to know more about Infinite Edge and their beautiful outdoor spaces, you can visit their website here or email helen@infinite-edge.co.uk.