Night Zookeeper Blog

March is World Creative Writing Month and this year at Night Zookeeper we are challenging our young writers with a 5 Million Word Quest. Every word published by our Night Zookeepers will count towards our collective goal of reaching 5 Million Words!

Writing is one of the most used types of communication, and it’s a skill your child will need in their academic journey. However, teaching your child to love writing can be an extremely challenging task. This is why we've gathered our favorite ways to inspire a love for writing in your child!

Happy new year, and happy January! Now that the holidays seem like a distant memory, we must focus on the year ahead and on all the exciting days and events coming our way! Here are the best January writing prompts to get your child excited for the new year.

Setting clear objectives for the new year can have a very positive impact on your child’s academic performance and their general development. Here are our top tips on how to set clear goals for the new year!

Encouraging your child to practice literacy skills can be challenging, especially if they find literacy boring, or look at it as schoolwork. From family game nights, to epic singing battles, we hope these suggestions help spark a passion for learning in your child, all while having fun!

Writing can be a challenging skill to learn, but at Night Zookeeper, we’re big believers in making writing fun. Here are some awesome writing activities that will transform your child’s attitude toward writing!

Christmas is many people’s favorite holiday, and here at Night Zookeeper, we love to celebrate friendship, joy, and the power of creativity during this time of the year! Encourage your child to express themselves creatively this holiday season with some fun, Christmas creative writing prompts!

Keep the festivities going! These Christmas writing prompts are all about what truly matters, not only during the holiday season, but all year-round - gratitude, compassion, kindness, family and friends.

December is most people’s favorite month, as it’s a month full of joy, festivities and celebrations! This is also a very busy time of the year, and we’re here to help you by providing some free, educational writing prompts for your child to try during the break.

Mental wellbeing has become a global topic of discussion, but children’s mental health specifically continues to be overlooked. Without the right tools, children may struggle to find ways to manage their mental wellbeing. Here are our best, fun creative activities to improve your child's wellbeing!

October is the first full month of a brand new season, and as usual, we have lots to write about as we celebrate World Smile Day, World Animal Day, World Teachers’ Day and Halloween! If you’re on the hunt for some amazingly creative writing prompts, you’ve come to the right place!

Recently, grammar has been argued to no longer be an important area of study when it comes to English language. Technology is now used in classrooms and workplaces worldwide to enable grammar to be easily corrected at the click of a button. We’re here to argue why it remains important for children to learn grammar!

In recent years, technology has started to revolutionize the way we think about all aspects of education. Here at Night Zookeeper,  we believe that technological advancements in education offer great ways to keep children engaged and entertained, which is a known challenge for traditional schooling methods. Learn more about the benefits of technology in education here!

Looking for some September-themed inspiration? These writing prompts are perfect to try this month, whether you're getting ready for Autumn or enjoying the first few days of Spring!

Whether you're an experienced homeschooler or a parent looking to supplement your child's learning, chances are you've heard of the learning program Time4Writing and its discontinuation. Learn more about Nightzookeeper.com, a Time4Writing alternative, in this article.

Looking for a great way to spark an interest in writing? This list of young writers competitions offer an insight on current events that your child can participate in (and win amazing prizes)! Writing competitions are a wonderful way to motivate your child to write more, so be sure to give these a go!

In August, we celebrate International Dog Day, Ice Cream Sandwich Day, International Elephant Day and lots more! Here are some awesome, August-themed writing prompts to try with your child - we guarantee hours of creativity!

Curious about different teaching methods and how they work? Learn more about the differences, similarities, pros and cons of homeschooling, unschooling and gameschooling here. We hope this article will help you decide what works best for your family, or at the very least, offer some guidance on how to try these innovative forms of learning!

Because students have varying needs, many learning strategies have been emerging in the academic world to accommodate all learners. Microlearning is one of these new learning strategies; it utilizes short bursts of time with the goal of learning a specific topic. This learning strategy is engaging and easily digestible for many students! Microlearning is effective because it covers the main points of a topic, but doesn't bore or confuse students with too many minute details. Learn more about what makes microlearning effective and how you can implement it with your child!

We have much to celebrate in the month of July, including some awesome international animal days, yummy holidays and friendship! Let your child's imagination run wild with our favorite July-themed writing prompts!

In her new book, 103 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, Cathy Duffy selected Night Zookeeper as one of the best programs for language arts! Her review highlights the fantastically fun features that will get your child to love reading and writing.

Gamification has been proven to be extremely beneficial to all children's learning, but is especially useful for children who struggle with special educational needs. Gamification can help students improve their focus, motivation, engagement, and more. Learn more about how children with SEN can use gamification to revolutionize their learning!

Worldschooling is a fascinating approach to education, and a method that is rapidly growing in popularity. With a little help from technology, worldschooling has never been as attainable as it now is, but what are some of the advantages and risks that come with this teaching method? Find out how you can worldschool your child here!

Paragraphs help to organize ideas into separate sections with the aim to make it easier for the reader to consume the text at hand and understand the information shared. In this article, we’re giving you our top tips on how you can help your child to successfully write a paragraph!

It's finally time to bring out the beach towels, swimwear and sun cream! However, we can't forget how important it is to keep your child's brain active during the summer break. Our amazing summer writing prompts will do just that!

Summer can be a tricky time of the year for parents, as it's sometimes challenging to keep children entertained in a productive way! Looking for new, educational activities to do with your child this summer break? This article may be just what you've been looking for!

Have you ever wondered how important drawing is in terms of writing skills development? Drawing is considered to be the foundation needed in order for children to be able to develop writing skills at an older age. Learn more about how drawing and writing work together and their benefits here!

Gamified learning is defined as the process of applying gaming features to traditional learning with the aim to create a more interactive learning experience. Learn more about the principles of gamified learning in this article and how Night Zookeeper can help!

A summary is an overview or condensed version of a full story or text. It can sometimes be a challenging task to accomplish, as your child will have to be very selective on what to include. Learn more about how you can guide your child on how to successfully write a summary here!

“My child hates writing” is a phrase we hear a lot from parents who have not yet found an effective way to transform their reluctant writer’s attitude toward this task. Here are our best tips on how to get your child to love writing, from parents who have overcome this obstacle!

Let your child's imagination run wild with our awesome May Writing Prompts! These writing prompts have been created to help your child develop their skills in various styles of writing, including opinion pieces, persuasive texts, storytelling, list-making and letter writing. Be sure to share these with your child!

ADHD affects 2.2% of children worldwide and it can be an extremely challenging condition to manage. Symptoms include low attention span, hyperactivity, disorganization and many others, all of which have a direct impact on education. Here's how Night Zookeeper has been able to help children with ADHD.

Are you currently working from home and homeschooling your kids? Do you feel a little lost and in need of some guidance? These are the best tips on how to combine working from home and homeschooling!

These Environmental Writing Prompts have been created to raise awareness about the current environmental crisis and to get your child to think creatively about all the ways they can help!

Celebrate the start of April, we have some amazingly fun April Writing Prompts to keep your children inspired to write! April is a busy month, with lots of great things to celebrate, including Earth Day, World Penguin Day and Poetic Earth Month!

Organizing your homeschool day can be an overwhelming and challenge task and we're here to help you! Having worked with many homeschooling families, these are the best tips we've gathered on how to organize your homeschool day.

Celebrate Mother's Day with these amazing writing prompts! Mothers are really important role models and should be celebrated and cherished! They do so much for us a daily basis and we should dedicate this day to show gratitude and love for them!

Creative writing can be a real positive force for children’s lives and development, but how does a child get started with creative writing? There are many ways, but it can often be helpful to have a structure to work from, so we’ve outlined some simple steps on how your child can write a story and enjoy themselves in the process!

World Creative Writing Month is back for 2022! This is your chance to challenge your children and students to write as many stories as possible throughout the month of March.

March is the month of new beginnings and creativity! With Springtime around the corner and World Book Day fast approaching, we've gathered some awesome March writing prompts which will for sure inspire your kid(s) to get excited about some cool upcoming events!

Happy Library Lovers' Month! To commemorate all of the wonderful libraries in the world, we've put together some fun facts about the importance of these amazing institutions and also gathered some awesome library writing prompts to get your child thinking of all the great ways in which libraries are very useful resources!

To celebrate the kick-off of the Winter Olympics, we've created some awesome writing prompts to encourage your child to keep up with this amazing sporting event! Not only will these prompts develop your child's creative writing skills, but they'll also spark an interest for this cultural occasion!

Creative writing can be a great way to help ease a child's anxiety. Hear the story of how one child found solace in writing with Night Zookeeper.

Looking for some writing inspiration? Well, look no further! In this blog, we share with you some of our favourite February writing prompts for kids! As Valentine's Day approaches, it's always good to remember and celebrate our loved ones and that is exactly what these prompts will prompt your child to do! Happy February!

Ever wondered what goes into preparing your child for learning how to write? Well, look no further! We've got some awesome tips from trusted educators and fellow parents which will for sure set your child up for success!

New Year's Day marks a lot of new beginnings, which might be difficult for children to understand. It marks both the start of a new year, as well as a new decade! We thought it would be fun to serve up some fresh new writing prompts to help your children better understand what all the buzz about a new year is about. What better character to deliver these prompts, but Maji the Time Travelling Elephant? She knows *a lot* about new years!

These fun facts for kids are designed to teach your child about animals and encourage their creativity. We've also included fun writing prompts to help spark your child's imagination and help them write cool new things.

These holiday writing prompts are designed to spark creativity and imagination within children. We encourage children to think about what they like (or dislike) about the holiday season, but also ask them to think outside of the box about what the holidays mean to them.

Children’s education and media company Night Zookeeper is launching the first book in the world where kids can design and draw the hero! This personalized book is the perfect gift option for the holidays.

Learning how to read is hard! Teaching your child how to read can be even harder. Here are six amazing ways to teach your child to read

We've compiled our top activities that you can do in the comfort of your own home! These are some of the best ways to encourage creativity and imagination. Have fun and learn at the same time!

Encourage and inspire your child with these seven amazing tips on why you should encourage your child to read (and read a lot).

Have you ever heard of hybrid learning? Find out more about this learning method and how it may benefit your child's academic progress here!

Have you ever wondered why spelling is such an important skill to develop? Take a closer look at some of the main reasons why spelling is crucial for children's educational (and professional) success!

Learn about the benefits of storytelling towards child development in this article. We explore the effects of storytelling on children's learning and why it's important to introduce storytelling early.

Are you starting your own homeschooling journey? Learn more about how to create an effective learning environment at home from our super parents, who have shared with us what has worked for them!

Are you looking for ways to engage your reluctant learner? We recommend that you introduce humor into your child's learning process and start encouraging laughter. Pairing learning with laughter can be incredibly beneficial for your child’s education and general well-being.

Get your child's new academic year started in the best way possible by teaching them some positive learning habits. Encourage and inspire your child with these seven amazing tips on how to help your child build positive learning habits for the new school year.

Night Zookeeper has joined forces with Amazon to offer an exclusive educational Alexa Skill for its Amazon Kids+ service. Called Night Zookeeper Write and Draw, it launches in the UK alongside a funky new Echo Dot Kids speaker.

As you may have seen, we recently launched a new look for the Animal Dens (where each animal lives) in Night Zookeeper. This aims to make it simpler for your child to use and to give them more choice in the activities they do. However, we know that with any change, it can take a little getting used to so we’ve put this guide together to help anyone who is wondering how to use it. Don’t worry, all the same features are still there!

The Night Zoo is a very magical world indeed, but we want children to recognise the magic of the world they already live in. Celebrate Earth Day with these amazing Earth Day Writing Prompts!

At Night Zookeeper, we’re proud to celebrate Autism Acceptance Month. Our topmost priority is to promote acceptance for every child who uses our platform, particularly including children with more unique needs. We strive to give every child a safe and positive space that they will feel comfortable in. We’re delighted to share a guest post that Amber Donaldson, subscriber to the Night Zookeeper platform and mother of four submitted to us.

With these super springtime writing prompts, your young writers can continue growing their imaginations.

World Creative Writing Month was back for another year, starting March 1, 2021. This exciting competition challenged children to write as many stories as possible throughout the month. The very best writing was showcased each week with prizes up for grabs!

Are your children newly remote learning or homeschooling due to recent restrictions? Ignite their creativity this lockdown, with Night Zookeeper! 🎨 This time last year, our very own author Joshua Davidson and the Night Zookeeper team were invited to host an interactive experience at Chessington World of Adventures Resort! Josh and the team gave children the chance to enter the Night Zoo and invent their own unique magical animals through nightzookeeper.com! 🐘

With an increase in the rise of coronavirus cases and many countries going into lockdowns many of your children might be facing remote learning for the foreseeable future. Are you someone who is now newly homeschooling or remote learning due to new lockdown restrictions? Never fear! Night Zookeeper can help! 💕

Whether you’re homeschooling or simply looking for creative writing prompts to do after school during the month of November, here is a list of our favorites!

Unexpected circumstances such as a protracted lockdown can seem scary, heavy and uncertain for children. There are many ways to help alleviate the negative emotions a child might experience. One such way is creative writing! Here's why.

With these fun Halloween prompts for young writers, your children will make great use of their imaginations and creative drive. Whatever your child decides to write about, we hope they will keep their writing fun and a little bit magical! 🎃

How you can help your child with dysgraphia or dyslexia to enjoy writing. Dyslexia and dysgraphia are common learning difficulties experienced by children. It can be incredibly tough to find a program that not only helps encourage a child to love creative writing who struggles with either of these difficulties, but also one that allows them to actually flourish as creative writers! So, the main question is how can we help someone with dysgraphia or dyslexia with their writing so that they can grow to love it? There are plenty of online learning games and options for dyslexia and dysgraphia that can help your child.

In light of the recent developments surrounding Coronavirus and potential school closures, we wanted to help support families struggling to provide educational activities for their children. For the children, we wanted to provide them with a creative outlet to express their feelings during a complicated time. We understood that having to stay at home and not see friends, family and loved ones could feel lonely for them. However, by staying home, it helped to make sure other people who need help can get it. That’s why in partnership with IMM’s Care to Create and printed.com, we set out a very special Star Writing Challenge.

We're nearly halfway through the year already! June is an awesome month as it brings a change in seasons and plenty of smiles! We've created some June writing prompts that will encourage your child to use their imagination and have lots of fun whilst writing!

In light of the recent developments surrounding Coronavirus and potential school closures, we want to support families struggling to provide educational activities for their children. That’s why in partnership with IMM’s Care to Create, we set out a very special Star Writing Challenge.

Just in time for World Book Day, we’re thrilled to announce that the Night Zookeeper Book Series is now fully available for purchase on our shop. We know many of you have been patiently waiting for the third book to become available. You can access all of the books alongside other fun merchandise by visiting our official shop.

Whether you’re interested in getting your child to read or write poetry, there are numerous benefits to introducing this form of writing to them. Poetry will be all around them: be it in children’s poetry books they will encounter or simply through the songs they hear on the radio. So, how does one introduce poetry to children? How do they start writing poems, themselves? What kind of poetry is the best to start with? Poetry is varied and comes in many different shades of colour!

We’re reprinting our first book “Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood”. If you didn’t know already, we love featuring our children’s work – wherever we can! So we decided our reprint would be the perfect opportunity to feature some new writing from our Night Zookeeper Writers on platform! So, we set out a very special Star Writing Challenge. For this Star Writing, we challenged children to create a new magical animal and write a story about them. They had to write a minimum of 100 words. The winning stories would be chosen to be published in our reprint!

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve launched some awesome new features to help children that are still developing their reading and writing skills.

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve teamed up with our friends at Times Tables Rock Stars to allow students the chance to collect these fun Night Zookeeper characters!

Night Zookeeper, the fun creativity website, SKY TV animated series, and popular chapter books; will be hosting a free magical interactive experience at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in February half term (February 15-23).

We have an exciting new feature to share with you! We now have thousands of new interactive challenges available on the Night Zookeeper platform! These challenges cover all required learning for ages 5-12+.

Nightzookeeper.com was designed to inspire a love of reading and writing in children, while at the same time helping to develop their creative thinking skills, as well as genuinely improving the quality of their writing. Here are eleven awesome ways nightzookeeper.com could do this for your child!

Whether your child is naturally creative, or not quite there yet, there are ways in which you can raise them to be the most creative version of themselves. Why is this important, you might ask? Raising a creative child is incredibly important because it will help prepare them for their future. With the rise of technology, the job industry is constantly changing. Who knows what jobs will be available in the next ten to fifteen years? What is certain, is that being able to imagine something that doesn’t exist already and communicate it properly will prepare your child to handle any challenges thrown their way. This is an incredibly useful life skill.

Happy New Year! 🎉 We’ve been working really hard all year and wanted to share all of the things we’ve been up to in 2019. This year has been full of magic and great memories. It has been such a transformative year that rather than simply listing out all of our adventures, we are breaking with tradition, and have instead produced a beautiful infographic.

With these wonderful winter-themed prompts for kids, your children will make great use of their imaginations and creative drive. Whatever your child decides to write about, we hope they will keep their writing fun and a little bit magical!

Are you struggling to get your child engaged with writing? We’ve found that making writing fun is often the key to making writing stick. If you have a reluctant writer, or perhaps are just looking for fun new ways to engage your child with writing, keep reading! We’ve compiled a list of nine fun ways to practice English writing with your children.

Throughout the month of November our children were challenged to participate in The International Writing Cup Competition!

Here are 7 fun word ames to help inspire even the most reluctant readers and writers to start loving creative writing and storytelling. These games focus on improving literacy, language skills and overall enthusiasm for creative writing.

We recently set a really exciting Star Writing Challenge. To celebrate the launch of the brand new Night Zoo map, we challenged our young writers to invent a new location for the Night Zoo. To take part, they needed to create a new map location, draw a picture of it and write a short story set in this area of the zoo. This new location will then be added to the brand new Night Zoo map.

Let’s face it. Some children are natural born storytellers with creativity and imagination spilling from their fingers. For them, exploring creative writing is just the beginning of a beautiful journey. However, for some children, getting them to want to write is a tedious and stressful task. While writing might not come naturally to every child, this does not mean that your child can’t eventually learn to really love creative writing! This blog explores how to encourage your child to want to write.

Here are some fun, fall writing prompts to help spark your child’s creativity! Our autumn writing prompts will inspire your child to engage their imagination and create a new poems, persuasive essays, adventure stories, reports and short stories.

We’re excited to launch a ‘Writing Mentors’ scheme with Colt Technology Services (the same company that has kindly sponsored access for selected classes in the UK). How does it work? Each month, we’ll send class blogs to volunteers at Colt. They will spend designated time leaving helpful, encouraging comments on writing produced by your students.

We’ve been working incredibly hard this summer to develop a new feature that will save teachers hours of marking and grading time this year.

In September 2018, Colt Technology Services partnered with Night Zookeeper to sponsor annual licenses to the nightzookeeper.com platform so that classrooms all across the UK could benefit from our literacy program. The impact has been immense with more students than ever in the UK being able to access the Night Zookeeper literacy platform, which is proven to improve the reading and writing skills of primary-age children.