The Pobble blog

Pobble 365 is a powerful writing resource. Its popularity around the globe makes us very proud. Many of your children may already be familiar with it from school. Every day, 365 days a year you’ll find a weird, wonderful or wacky picture. Alongside this, you’ll find a writing prompt, philosophical questions and more to spark curiosity and creativity.

As well as being recommended by the Department for Education for home learning, Pobble 365 has recently been named in Waitrose’s 6 of the best websites to keep kids happy. The site is a brilliant option for something that’s high quality, simple to use and will help develop your children’s literacy skills.

Here are 5 ways parents can use it to support literacy learning at home:

Creative writing — Each Pobble 365 activity has different writing challenges to choose from. Children can pick a short one for a quick ten-minute task or use the story starter for a longer piece of writing. The great thing about the site is its versatility so children can really get creative whilst practising their literacy skills!

Philosophical discussion — We know how difficult it can be to get children writing. A discussion can often prove just as valuable. The questions that accompany each Pobble 365 image make great starting points for you. What can they say about the pictures? What can they see? Short discussions like this are ideal for developing speaking, listening and observational skills. Can your children come up with their own questions about the picture too?

Roleplay — Pretend play not only gets your children up and moving, but it’s also a great way of practising speaking and performing. Take a look at a Pobble 365 picture, can your child pretend to be one of the characters in the image? Can they act out the story?

Get arty — Each one of the pictures, (365 of them!) is a great starting point to get inventive. Your children could draw, collage or paint their own version. For a real challenge, your kids could try and recreate one of the images using themselves or props from around the house and then take a photograph. You can see some great examples of children that have already taken on this challenge here.

Use your senses — Once you’ve chosen a Pobble 365 image, ask your child to write down 5 headings, one for each of the senses. Take a good look at your chosen image and then encourage your children to write down what they think they would hear, smell, taste, touch and see if they were transported into the image. Sensory activities such as these not only encourage children to explore and investigate but also encourage children to be more mindful.