Discovering Children’s Books: Creative Campaigns

Resource type: Projects, programmes and workshops

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS2

Region(s): All of UK

Every term, the team from Discovering Children’s Books at the British Library runs a creative book-making project designed to spark a love of reading, writing and drawing in young people. The project is supported by a range of resources drawn from the British Library’s collection and created by current children’s authors and illustrators.

The summer term project is a Make a Guidebook challenge. The project is designed to encourage creativity, promote independent research and develop writing skills as pupils explore the elements of a successful guidebook and create their own mini guidebook to a place of their choice (real or imaginary). Supporting resources include:

A free online workshop for pupils aged 7-11 on 8th June led by author Rashmi Sirdeshpande and illustrator Viviane Schwarz to kickstart the project.
Teaching notes and adaptable lesson plans.
Creative writing prompts and model texts to share with pupils.
Completion certificate.

Cost: Free

About the British Library: The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Its collection holds over 170 million artefacts from every age of written civilisation, with around three million new printed and digital publications added to the archive every year.

Further resources:

Submit photos of pupils’ work on the Guidebook Explorer padlet, on X @BL_Learning, or via email by 10th July to enter a prize draw for the chance to win book tokens worth £50 and a letter from the authors.
Find more creative writing activities and supporting resources to inspire primary-aged children to see themselves as authors on the Discovering Children’s Book padlet.
Explore the full Discovering Children’s Books playlist on YouTube, featuring top children’s authors, illustrators and poets introducing a range of book-related and writing activities for primary aged children.
Find out more about the British Library’s Learning Programme of workshops, curated exhibitions and interactive tours to support primary and secondary educators.