Night Zookeeper Blog

Josh visits Harvest School in Bangalore. It was another hot day in Bangalore and I had awoken early, after flying in from a short trip to Kerala the evening before. I was with my wife Ishani, and together we made our way across the city from my in-law’s house to Harvest International School. Thankfully we were going in the opposite direction of most of the cars and the roads became smaller and windier as we made our way to the outskirts of the city.

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.

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.

The team here at Night Zookeeper is delighted to be giving primary school children across the UK a unique opportunity to use a new (and free!) website to create characters for a soon-to-launch animated TV series in a world first. Of course, Night Zookeeper is already well-known to school children aged seven and above as an award-winning digital platform that encourages literacy and writing, but soon it’ll also be an animated series on Sky Kids!

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

How a Primary School Teacher Made Homework Fun. We’re extremely lucky to work with some of the most amazing teachers in the world, as the Night Zookeeper community continues to grow every day! Thanks to the generous sponsorship from Colt Technology, we have been able to work with a new network of schools who perhaps would have been unable to introduce their students to the wonderful world of the Night Zoo.

With one week left to go of our yearly World Creative Writing Month competition, we have already exceeded three million published words, produced by students around the world! Visit the latest WCWM18 league table by clicking the image below…

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.

Night Zookeeper & Tagtiv8 Workshops and CPD Sessions I’m delighted to announce that Night Zookeeper have partnered with Tagtiv8 to deliver amazing Literacy workshops in schools!

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.

“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!

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!

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!

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!

Now that the colder months are fast approaching, 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!

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 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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Throughout April, students have the opportunity to write a report and/or story that has the chance to be published in the third Night Zookeeper book, The Penguins of Igloo City.

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.

We’re excited to be attending Bett 2019 at the ExCel London from January 23rd to 26th! Come visit our stand to get a special free trial of our website nightzookeeper.com, an educational platform that is proven to raise the writing attainment of primary school students.

A school in Norfolk is dramatically improving writing skills. Here’s how. Langham Primary School has been using the digital writing website nightzookeeper.com, for the past three years, with some amazing results.

We're nearly halfway through the year already! June is an awesome month, because it sees us through from spring to summer - bringing with it new plant blossoms, good weather, 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!

April sees the beginning of a new league table system for all classes using Night Zookeeper. Our leagues now run for the duration of the month, so that you can award new winners throughout the year!

Celebrate the first full month of Spring with our top April Writing Prompts! April is a busy month, with lots of great things to celebrate, including Earth Day, World Penguin Day and Poetic Earth Month!

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!

We were absolutely thrilled to see this fantastic end of year performance from a class at the Taipei European School in Taiwan. They explain so well all about Night Zookeeper and the importance of creativity!

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!

We are pleased to report a partnership with the Japanese NPO, YouMeWE. Thanks to this fantastic organisation, Night Zookeeper is now being used by children’s homes in Japan, charity schools in the Philippines, and by children from Syria, in refugees camps.

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!

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.

We are thrilled to be working with Picturehouse on a series of family-friendly workshops. Upcoming Dates: Cinema City Picturehouse, Norwich on Sat 27th April at 10.30 am and 2 pm Picturehouse at FACT, Liverpool on Sat 4th May at 10.30 am and 1.30 pm

The International Writing Cup is back for another year, with a brand new format! We’re launching a special Writing Triathlon on 1st November 2018. Students will be challenged to write three different pieces of writing that are all linked by the theme of writing an amazing adventure story.

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!

Here are our 5 Top Tips on how to help your child transform into a true author and fall in love with learning on Night Zookeeper! These tips will help to encourage your child to connect with their friends, whether you're homeschooling or using Night Zookeeper as a supplemental resource.

We’re very excited to announce that we are able to offer 140 schools the chance to use Night Zookeeper for the year, free of charge. This fantastic opportunity has been made possible by sponsorship from COLT Technology Services, who provide network and voice services to Europe, North America, and Asia.

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!

We’ve created a feature this summer to gamify the process of keeping a reading record. We think this will have a huge impact on student motivation levels as they are rewarded in their Night Zoo account for the amount of reading they are doing ‘offline’.

Our community of Night Zookeeper teachers is some of the most awesome people around! Follow some of our official Night Zookeeper Teacher Ambassadors below to see how they are using Night Zookeeper and developing a love of writing in their class.

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.

The Night Zookeeper team are visiting schools all over the UK gathering fantastic ideas for the new animated series on Sky TV

Throughout March, we asked students to write about their favourite subject, topic, or interest that they were incredibly passionate about.

This week, our Night Zookeeper Teacher in the spotlight is Matt Peebles. Matt is a fourth-grade teacher based in Illinois who has been using Night Zookeeper with his students for the last couple of months.

This week, we are challenging students to invent a new location for the Night Zoo. They should use their imagination to invent a new environment to fit into the Night Zoo map as seen above.

We recently had great fun with a group children from St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School in Mortlake when we joined them on a visit to a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning animation studio where they became animators for the day and saw their drawn creations come to life.

Night Zookeeper is the basis for a literacy program that inspires children to draw, write and think creatively. Our belief is that too much of the content children consume, leaves little or no room for their own imagination and that in homes and schools, creativity is falling further and further down the list of priorities.

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!

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!

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

Calling all aspiring writers – the latest Star Writing Challenge is up today! We would like your students to write a 1000 word story about their own adventure in the Night Zoo. Once they step through the magical gates, where will they go and who will they meet?

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.

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!

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!