Floor book ideas for early years

Give your whole class a voice! Floor books are an excellent resource to use in your early years classroom to maximise engagement and deepen understanding through child-directed learning. This versatile resource creates space for children to share their own ideas and shape their learning. Learn more about how you can use floor books in your classroom.

What is a floor book?

A floor book is a large communal notepad used in classrooms where children can write or draw out their questions, thoughts, feelings, observations, findings and reflections on the different topics explored in class. This is a great resource to use in early years to capture learning and development from the child’s perspective. 

What are the benefits:

Every child is included 

Floor books are accessible to all children, meaning every child can contribute their ideas and feel valued. Being able to do this of their own accord will help develop confidence in their autonomy. You can keep a log to record when each child has added to it, to make sure everyone is getting a turn. 

Flexible and versatile 

Floor books can be adapted to cover any topic, or number of topics, learning objectives, or projects, in as much or as little detail as required. How frequently entries are made, how many pages are filled per topic, and how ideas and thoughts are represented can all be decided by the class.

A measure of progress

Floor books can be used to identify current knowledge, gaps in knowledge and to record new knowledge. This makes it easy to recognise where the class has made progress, and can be shown to heads of year, parents and the children themselves.

Literacy and critical thinking skills

As well as deepening their understanding of a set topic, using a floor book can help children develop their writing and critical thinking skills. This is because floor books encourage children to identify and articulate their thoughts and questions, write down their ideas, engage in activities which may challenge these, and reflect on their findings.

How to use your floor book:

There are numerous ways you can organise your floor book. As much as possible, these decisions should be made as a class. Here are some steps to get you started:

Step 1. Choose your topic

Floor books can be used to cover a broad range of topics, or to focus on one topic in greater detail. Some topics you might like to consider include:

• Specific subjects e.g. Maths, Literacy, etc
• Themes e.g. the environment
• Specific skills e.g. social and emotional development
• Open-ended record of class activity over the year

Step 2. Choose a structure 

The easiest way to structure your floor book is either chronologically or thematically. Each has benefits and limitations, so it is about what works for your class. 

Chronologically: This structure provides a good overview of what topic(s) you have covered in real time, and a clear linear representation of class progress. It is the simplest, as it does not require a pre-determined format. It is best used for open ended recording or a singularly themed subject floor book, otherwise the content may feel disjointed. 

Thematically: This structure is especially useful for covering multiple topics or sub-topics because information is organised in a coherent way which can be used in the future to consolidate learning. However, it requires more initial formatting and overall upkeep to ensure children record in the correct section.

With either choice, try to include a section where children can free-write their ideas when they arise.

Step 3: Decide how much and how often 

Before you start, try to decide how often you will make entries into your floor book, and what those entries will look like. This could be time based, such as filling in a page once a day, or week, or month, or could be activity based, such as filling in any number of pages after each noteworthy activity related to this topic. Make sure your choice is sustainable for your class.

Step 4. Choose your activities

As the use of floor books focus on developing critical thinking skills in young learners, how you select and reflect on an activity is likely to be more important than the specific activity chosen. Start by having a class discussion on your chosen topic - let children lead with their facts, ideas, questions, etc. This can be used to assess current knowledge, knowledge gaps, and interests. Ask relevant follow-up questions to find the focus of your activity. 

For example, if your topic is animals, children may show good knowledge of different types, with gaps in knowledge about minibeasts, and an interest to know more about their habitats. Choose an activity which can address the question posed. For example, this create your own wormery activity from a past edition of our Little Learners would be a perfect activity to expand knowledge on minibeast habitats. Record key questions and predictions in the floor book, to reflect on later.

Step 5. Record and Reflect

As you carry out your activity, try to capture evidence of each stage of the process. Record key questions and predictions before the activity, and capture photographs, drawings, and observations throughout. Add this evidence into your floor book and allow children to annotate it, using their critical thinking skills to reflect on the activity. 

Reflections may include: 

• Descriptions of what they are doing and why
• Answers to questions asked before the activity 
• Evaluations of their predictions 
• Explanations of what they liked or didn’t like about a task
• New ideas or questions
• Drawings

Find your perfect floor book and stock up on art supplies such as coloured pens and pencils, multi-purpose labels, glue sticks and tape to get started! For more activity inspiration across a range of topics and themes, subscribe to our FREE Little Learners magazine. We would love for you to share your favourite floor book ideas by tagging us on Facebook or Instagram.