Starting nursery and reception: wellbeing resources

These easy-to-deliver resources are designed to help children settle into the nursery and classroom environment, and will allow them to develop their communication, language and literacy skills.

Books such as Ruby's Worry and Ravi's Roar by Tom Percival, published by Bloomsbury, can help children to recognise the different emotions that they may be feeling and help them to articulate these emotions. The session plans linked to these stories, use the books to provide strategies for children to cope with the transition of starting school or nursery.

The main message of these sessions is that it is okay to feel uncertain, anxious or worried and that sharing these feelings and working things out together will help. Younger children will benefit from hearing these messages, even if they cannot articulate these emotions themselves.

Watch Tom Percival introduce and read his story Ravi's Roar.

The resources include:

• A list of books to support children's mental wellbeing
• Session plans linked to Ruby's Worry and Ravi's Roar, both by Tom Percival, to help children share and understand their feelings and to help create a sense of belonging in their new environment (can be used for nursery, reception and Year 1)

The resources support:

• Communication and language
• Wellbeing
• Personal, social and emotional development

More resources

For more books about starting school or nursery see our Starting school or nursery booklist on Words for Life.

We will continue to update this page with relevant and useful resources. Please email earlyyears@literacytrust.org.uk with any particular requests or suggestions.