Creative Activities to celebrate World Book Day and the National Year of Reading

9 February 2026

We hope you’ve had a great start to 2026 - which is the National Year of Reading – and although this year has just begun, it’s halfway through the academic year already!

To support World Book Day (Thursday 5 March 2026), we have chosen two Taster Cards that will support the development of your learner’s imagination through practising using their intuition and wondering and questioning. The activities can be adapted for either Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2 pupils.

Hot-Seating

In this activity, children develop their wondering and questioning skills by asking questions of a character, with the aim of finding out what sorts of question may elicit the most interesting response. You could ask pupils to complete this activity in pairs or do it as a whole class. It works well with a current class text, or for a special World Book Day spin on it, why not ask your learners to be their favourite book character – especially if they are in fancy dress for World Book Day!

Make Your Own Adventure

This activity draws on the choose your own adventure genre – there are suggested texts on the card but there are plenty of others out there. For younger learners, or if you only want a quick introduction to the concept, the You Choose picture book series by Nick Sharrat is a good jumping off point. Children will use their intuition by being challenged to come up with ideas and make choices without knowing the outcome of where they are going in advance. You could also change the suggested prompts on the card to a current class book, or ask children to choose a scene from their own favourite story!

If you are interested in further creative approaches to learning, then check out our Sparking Imagination Pack. It includes more cards all with a literacy theme, and you will discover specially curated cards that link to specific texts, as well as cards that can be applied to any book or genre. Packed full of ideas to develop the five creative habits of mind, they are all activities that can be used across the curriculum.