28 World Book Day Ideas for School
Posted by EYR Team on 5th Feb 2024
read more
World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate stories, spark imagination, and help children develop a lifelong love of reading. Whether you're planning activities for Early Years, KS1, or KS2, this guide brings you 28 creative, classroom-friendly ideas that support literacy, art, play-based learning, role play, and cross-curricular development.
From simple craft activities to whole-school celebrations, these ideas are designed to be practical, affordable, and easy to adapt to different age groups.
Expressive Arts & Design Activities
1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Headband
What is World Book Day without a spot of dressing up? Made from strips of coloured card, The Very Hungry Caterpillar headband is a fun, low-prep costume alternative to celebrate the Hungry Caterpillar story. Wear it alone or as part of a fully crafted costume!
2. Design a Book Cover
Ask children to redesign the cover of a favourite book. Include title, author, illustration, and a blurb. Great for linking art with literacy.
3. Make a Milk Bottle Elmer
This craft is a great way to upcycle old milk bottles and discuss sustainability. Children can create new Elmer patchwork patterns and express creativity.
4. Design your own Bookmark
Why not get crafty with your own book marks? These could be any style – why not try a little monster eating the corner of your page!
5. Create a Soundtrack to your Favourite Story
This activity is a great way for children to explore music and sound as well as think critically about a story – is it happy, is it sad, should different characters have different instruments to represent them? Provide a range of instruments and challenge your little ones creative thinking!
Top up on your art supplies in advance of your activities!
Physical Development Activities
6. Rapunzel Themed Cutting Practice
For this activity you will need a tuff tray, paint pens, cooked spaghetti and scissors. Draw Rapunzel's tower directly onto the tuff tray and use the cooked spaghetti as the hair tumbling from the tower. Children can follow along with the story of Rapunzel and cut the spaghetti hair when it is cut in the tale. A fun and memorable way to participate in storytelling that encourages children to practice their fine motor skills!
7. Story-Themed Obstacle Course
Set up an obstacle course based on a book’s journey. For example: jumping in puddles like Peter Rabbit, tiptoeing past a “giant,” or crawling through tunnels like in The Gruffalo’s Child.
8. Build a Story Den
Nothing is more immersive for a storytime than a cosy reading nook. A story den can be built to suit any size, space or setting. Transform sections of the classroom into mini worlds: a bear cave, a witch’s kitchen, a pirate ship, or fairytale castle to suit your book of choice!
Check out some of our physical development resources to get started!
Understanding the World Activities
9. Grow your own Hungry Caterpillars
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is a well loved tale so why not make some caterpillars of your own! Taking a sheet of tissue paper per caterpillar, simply roll it up around a pencil or straw and scrunch it together. Remove them from the straw and add drops of water to the caterpillars and watch as they expand – a fun STEAM activity to accompany a much loved book.
10. "George's Marvelous Medicine" Experiment
Why not introduce the story “George’s Marvellous Medicine” by Roald Dahl to your children and then see what sort of experiments they can cook up? Our favourite is a fizzing volcano but what will your children create!
11. Foods from Books: Cooking & Tasting
Prepare simple recipes inspired by stories — e.g., The Tiger Who Came to Tea sandwiches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory treats, or Handa’s Surprise fruit tasting. Whilst measuring and weighing the ingredients, children will develop some key scientific skills they can use in later life!
12. Explore Cultures Through Stories
Choose books from different cultures and discuss traditions, clothing, or geography linked to the story. A great way to support the "people, culture and communities" EYFS topic. Browse our dedicated around the world books category to get started
Communication & Language Activities
13. Turn your Favourite Book into a Play
Acting out your classes favourite book is a great way to develop key communication and language skills as well as confidence! It will also encourage children to think deeply about the story and the characters involved as they transform this into a dramatic performance. Provide your little ones with a range of role play accessories for them to dress up.
14. "Guess Who" Book Character Edition
This is a great game to test children’s descriptive language and comprehension of a story. You can either use the boards from the guess who game and add cut outs of characters from books or just stick these images to sheets of paper. In pairs, children will need to ask yes or no questions about the appearance or characteristics of the characters to be able to determine who it is!
15. Word Hunt Bingo
Test children by providing a list of objects on a bingo sheet and see if they can find all of the words in the books that they read!
16. Put on a Puppet Show
Alternatively, why not try a puppet show? With all the same benefits as a play, puppets can be used on a much smaller scale. Puppets can be made from something as simple as a wooden spoon or sock or could be from a story set – selected to accompany a particular boo
17. "Hot Seating"
Children take turns pretending to be a character while others ask them questions. Encourages speaking, listening, and role play.
18. "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" Sensory Tuff Tray
Children can play along with the story as they move the characters through the different areas of the tuff tray, exploring key vocabulary and positional language such as "over", "under" and "through".
Check out our communication and language resources to explore more activities!
Literacy-Based Activities
19. Write a Book Review
Encourage your children to write a review on their favourite book, expressing what they like and don't like. This activity requires them to think critically about the content, supporting early literacy.
20. "Change the Ending" Writing Challenge
Invite children to rewrite the ending of a popular story and test their creative writing skills — What if the wolf became friends with the pigs? What if Cinderella overslept? What else could the Caterpillar have emerged from the cocoon as?
21. Story Writing Relay
Support children’s writing development in a fun and interactive way with this activity. Provide your class with the start of a story, then encourage them to take it in turns writing a sentence or a paragraph to the story. What will you end up with at the end?!
22. Story Sequencing Cards
After reading a book, challenge children to put corresponding picture cards in the correct order. A great activity with both EYFS and KS1.
23. Random Story Bags
Fill a bag with a random selection of images and objects related to various tales. Children pull out items one by one to add to their story, challenging their literary skills and creativity.
24. Book Quiz
Who doesn’t love a quiz! After your class has read or listened to a story why not test their comprehension with a quiz? Children will be aware they need to listen more intently to the book to be able to answer accurately
Provide key Literacy resources to prepare children for their writing and comprehension activities.
Maths-Themed Activities
25. Rainbow Fish Colouring In
Download our free Rainbow Fish colouring in sheets and match the colours to the letters. Children can explore patterns and matching.
26. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Themed Maths
Use the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar to support counting and simple addition. The food items that the caterpillar eats could be used to represent numbers and fractions visually to encourage engagement and interest from children whilst giving them help through visualization.
27. Measure the Giant’s Footprints
Link to Jack and the Beanstalk — lay out giant footprints and measure them using cubes, rulers, or tape measures.
Explore more maths resources here.
PSED/PSHE Activities
28. Write a Book "All About Me"
This is a great way to explore the EYFS "sense of self" topic. Children can write their own story, detailing their life journey, their family and their relationships.
World Book Day is a brilliant chance to encourage children to explore stories, express themselves creatively, and connect reading with hands-on learning. Whether you choose craft activities, literacy games, sensory play, or whole‑school celebrations, these 28 World Book Day ideas for schools offer plenty of inspiration for early years and primary classrooms. For even more reading and literacy inspiration, explore our related guides and early years resources.
