Reveal & name
Introduce the sound. Reveal the objects one at a time, name each clearly and invite children to echo or point.
YOUR CIRCLE TIME COMPANION
A little preparation.
Four days of discovery.
Start with a sound and a bag of familiar objects. Build a week of conversation, songs, making and exploration—one step at a time.
Create a lesson plan →Already making a plan? Keep that tab open and return to it when you’re ready.
FIVE SIMPLE STEPS
Build your four-day plan
Choose your letter and sound
Select the letter you’re exploring. Read the sound reminder and say the example word aloud. The matching verse of Ants on the Apple is included automatically in your final plan.
For a, practise the short sound in apple. You don’t need to select a phonics song separately.
Fill your mystery bag
Choose 5–10 objects that match the sound. Use the suggested objects or add something from your classroom. For a custom object, say its name aloud and confirm that it begins with the chosen sound.
Gather child-sized, age-appropriate objects. A model or figurine can represent something you cannot bring into the classroom.
Pick your focus objects
Choose 1–3 objects from your bag to explore in more depth. These guide the songs, art, hands-on activities and books you see next. Focus objects are highlighted in the final mystery-bag list.
Make the week your own
Switch between your focus-object tabs to explore their ideas. The tabs appear at both the top and bottom of the Activities page.
Choose up to four special activities in total, across art, hands-on discovery and storytelling. A book counts as a whole activity, just like a craft. Use the move buttons in Your four activities to put them in the order you want: the first is Day 1, the second is Day 2, and so on.
Add as many fun songs as you like; they do not use activity slots. Select the learning benefits you want to include, or write your own.
Need more ideas? Copy “Songs about ants for preschoolers” into YouTube, or use the object-specific Pinterest searches. Each search also has a direct link.
Check, print or download
Choose Create my four-day plan. Add your class or teacher name, the week beginning and any daily teaching prompts. Check the activity order, wording, pictures and songs before saving.
Save PDF downloads a document. Print opens your browser’s print options: choose A4 landscape, use 100% scale and turn off browser headers and footers. Longer plans continue onto extra pages, with the Innate logo on each.
Song QR codes start at the top right of the plan. Scan them to open the linked song or search for a recording. Activity pictures are included separately.
YOUR CLASSROOM, YOUR IDEAS
Bring a favourite activity with you
Add a song, craft or story
Under the relevant section, open Add your own … idea. Give it a title, describe what the children will do, then add materials and learning benefits. Add a reference link if you have one. Choose Add and choose this idea to include it.
For a song, paste its YouTube or other song link into the song-link field. This becomes its QR-code destination.
Include a picture that downloads
Uploading a picture is the most reliable option. Use a JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF up to 3 MB. You can also try a direct image link; a Pinterest pin page belongs in the reference-link field, not the picture-link field.
If a picture cannot be included, upload it instead. On the weekly plan, use Replace picture beneath an existing picture to change it before saving.
Reference photos are inspiration: follow the written preschool adaptation and adjust materials for your group.
FROM PLAN TO CIRCLE TIME
A familiar bag. A new way to explore.
Silhouette & create
Hold familiar objects against a thin cloth. Let the children guess from their outlines before you reveal them.
Clues & discovery
Keep an object hidden. Describe its shape, texture or use, one clue at a time, and invite guesses.
Feel, describe & lead
A child feels an object without looking, describes it to friends and reveals it after they guess.
Pair each day’s mystery-bag routine with the special activity you selected. For an optional individual follow-up, invite each child to identify, name and describe an object.
A FEW HELPFUL ANSWERS
Before you begin
Will my unfinished plan be saved?
Your choices currently stay in the open planner session. Download your PDF before closing or refreshing the planner. This guide opens in a separate tab so you can consult it without leaving your work.
Do I have to choose four activities?
You can create a plan with fewer, but choose four if you want a special activity assigned to every day. The four-slot limit is shared across art, hands-on discovery and storytelling.
Why aren’t the same songs and books shown for every letter?
Suggestions are connected to the focus object. Switch to another focus-object tab to explore more options, use the search prompts, or add your own relevant song or book.
Can I make changes after downloading?
While your planner tab remains open, you can return to earlier steps, make changes and download a new PDF. An already downloaded PDF does not update automatically.
What if my image link does not work?
Some websites allow you to view a picture but block its use in a PDF. Upload the picture file instead. The planner will tell you if a selected picture prevents the PDF from saving.
Ready to fill your mystery bag?
Open the planner →If you already have a plan open, return to its original tab.