2nd February – 8th February: National Storytelling Week

National storytelling week aims to bring the love of reading to life as people of all ages read stories together using a range of media such as props, story sacks, movement and music. How creative can you be? Let’s get on board with using active stories and use a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces to explore them. Why not collect a range of props and take the children on a journey that they interact and help make. Use open questions as to what should happen next and who would they like to see in the story. Have fun and go as wild and bold as you can. Why not link in Startwell’s ‘I’ve Had Enough’ book to bring the animals to life and talk about Micky Me Size. You can also use yoga cards to make up a story and link the moves together – this is a great activity to develop Sammy Skills. Check out our active stories video here.

National Hedgehog Day

It is a day to remember that UK hedgehog populations are shrinking, and most children have never seen a live hedgehog. Lets use the day to celebrate all things hedgehog – why not make hedgehog bread with 2 snacks Max for snack time or go on a walk with Active Azra to collect leaves and make hedgehog leaf pictures?

6th February: Wear Red Day in line with National Heart Month

Wear red day is a fundraising and awareness day to support children and adults born with congenital heart disease. It’s really easy to take part as all you need to do is wear something red. Why not take this opportunity to use 180 Katie to talk about the importance of a healthy heart and how to make the heart go Boom Boom Boom. It’s surprising how many children do not know where their heart is so this is a great opportunity to talk about the heart and its role in our body. If you can get hold of a stethoscope and listen to their own hearts that will make it all the more exciting and real for them. Remember the need to do 180 minutes of activity daily to keep our hearts healthy.

6th February: NSPCC Number Day

The NSPCC runs a maths focussed fun and fundraising day each year and provides a range of downloadable resources and ideas to help you have fun from dressing up as digits, wearing clothes with numbers or maths themes on, through to going on a number hunt. The resources are suitable from children in nursery right through to schools. The idea behind the event is to celebrate maths whilst any funds raised go towards helping to protect more children from abuse. Could you set up your own maths number hunt with Active Azra – remember to make them search high and low both indoors and outdoors or try making healthy sandwiches and counting the toppings as you slice and add them, how many triangles/squares do you have? A Birmingham school shared with us that counting down from 10 is a key area that children are struggling with – why not try some number rhymes that count down instead of up. See NSPCC’s Number Day webpage here.

9th – 15th February: Children’s Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week in 2026 will have the theme of “This is My Place”. It was set up by children’s mental health charity Place2Be and shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. It aims to look at reflecting on how children are given a voice and how we listen and respond to them. It aims to look at the importance of good mental health for children and young people and the importance of sharing thoughts and feelings with trusted others. Physical activity is a great way to boost mood so why not try different types of dancing as a way of expressing emotions e.g. high energy dancing or ballet dancing and link in 180 Katie.

10th February: Safer Internet Day

Active Azra wants you to think about the use of technology in your setting but also at home. We know children are using technology for longer and from a much earlier age even though Government guidance recommends no screen time for under 2s. Why not use this day to make parents aware of safe internet messages, recommended screen time and alternative activities they could be doing to keep them active like Active Azra.

10th February: World Pulses Day

Pulses are high in protein, iron, zinc as well as several other essential vitamins and minerals and are a good alternative to meat. Pulses are versatile and can be added into several dishes. Have you tried making hummus with the children? It is a great alternative instead of butter on sandwiches and wraps and provides that important protein source. Have a look at our Hummus family recipe here.

14th February: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 14^th February to show your love to your partner but in recent years this has grown in popularity and people often use it to celebrate their love of their family and pets. Valentine’s Day is often associated with sugary sweets and chocolate but check out our Winter Pinterest board for alternative healthy ways to celebrate it in your setting. It’s also a great time to look at the importance of keeping your heart healthy with 180 Katie.

14th – 21st February: National Nest Box Week

Did you know that there is a shortage of nesting sites for birds? Do you have an area in your outdoor provision that you could add a nesting box? It is a great opportunity to explore nature with the youngest of children and to get them interested in learning about wildlife and a focus on our birds. Can the children help to make bird boxes with Sammy Skills and hang bird feeders in your outdoor areas.

17th February: Chinese New Year

The New Year according to the Chinese Calendar in 2026 is the Year of the Horse – which signifies activity, energy and vitality. Why not have a Chinese themed day full of traditional Chinese food with Micky Me Size, music and dancing with 180 Katie, and encourage the children to move or gallop with Sammy Skills. Remember to gallop using left and right leg rotation.

20th February: National Love Your Pet Day

This event is a great opportunity to start exploring the needs of others and empathy. You can start to look at what living things need and maybe even turn your role play area into a Vets or a Doggy Day care. Remember to talk about the use of outside and the movements that animals make – can the children act out the animal movements? Why not link in Sammy Skills and use a range of animal Yoga poses. Check out our Yoga with Sammy Skills cube game and Sammy Skills’ board on Pinterest for extra ideas.

21st February: Real Bread Week

This is a great opportunity to make and explore bread with the children and talk about it being an energy food for our bodies. Try making bread or having bread in your tuff trays for exploration with our younger children as they poke, prod or even paint it with food colouring. Why not have a bread tasting session at snack time and try different varieties. Remember to link in 2 Snacks Max and maybe even Micky Me Size so we don’t eat too much. Check out our Raisin Bread Rolls childrren’s recipe here.

26th February: Tell a Fairy Tale Day

Launched in the US several years ago Tell a Fairy Tale Day has become really popular in the UK. It provides the perfect opportunity to spend time reading fairy tales and enjoying favourite childhood tales. A fairy tale is a short story that typically features fantasy characters and magic. Fairy tale collections are among the first books read and introduced by parents. But have you seen the mixed up fairy tales range? Why not look at reading these and it is also a great opportunity to make up your own fairy tales with the children or change traditional tales to link them to your setting. Try turning the fairy tales into active stories, we have made Run Gingerbread man run into an active story follow the link and have fun trying it out in your setting.

We have created a ’12 Days of Christmas Startwell Challenge’ for you to complete in your setting. Put the poster up in your setting entrance or in your rooms and tick off the numbers around the Christmas tree as you complete the challenges. All of the challenges can be found on the supporting document and there are extra ideas on our Winter Pinterest Board. Why not get families involved and send a copy home or share it via your electronic learning journals or social media pages for them to complete.

We would encourage you to start on the 1st December and complete the challenges Monday to Friday whilst in your setting, finishing on the 16th December. We would love to see photos of you completing the challenges, so either send these across to your consultant or share them via your social media pages and don’t forget tag Startwell.

November: Veg Pledge/World Vegan Day

Throughout the month of November, Cancer Research UK are encouraging us to embrace a plant-based diet and go vegetarian (or vegan) for one month to raise money to beat cancer. Remember to link in Fay 5 a day. If you want to take the veg pledge this November, visit the Cancer Research UK website for details on how to sign up and order your fundraising pack. We also have some vegetarian family recipes on our Startwell website that you can share with parents to try at home.

3rd – 9th November: Children’s Book Week

Children’s Book Week is all about celebration of books and reading. At startwell we encourage you to make your stories as physical as possible. Have you visited our active stories section on the website? We encourage you to use some of the children’s favourite stories and instead of reading them sitting down make them as active as you can. Remember to link in Active Azra, Sammy Skills or 180 Katie and take a look at our youtube active story clips to inspire you

5th November: Bonfire (Guy Fawkes) Night

Remember, Remember the 5th of November – why not check out our Pinterest page for Autumn and try some of the amazing, fun, and healthy activity ideas that we have pinned for you such as dancing like fireworks and flames with the children and Active Azra or what about cooking up a batch of our super warming spicy lentil and carrot soup or pumpkin/butternut squash soup from our website recipe tab.  The children will love getting hands on with the contents of the inside of the pumpkin or hammering nails into them, remember to link in Mickey Me Size and Sammy Skills. All these ideas and more can be found on our Startwell website and social media pages. Why not share the recipes with your parents so they can have a go at home!

6th November: Outdoor Classroom Day

Outdoor classroom day is an initiative that takes place across the UK and the World. The focus is on celebrating the outdoors, learning through the environment, and making children happier and healthier and improving their sense of wellbeing. Outdoor classroom day will see lots of children in a variety of settings spending the whole day outdoors. Why don’t you have an outdoor day where all the learning takes place outdoors. We know the amount of time children spend outside has decreased and days like this really hope to promote its importance and highlight the issue. Link in the physical characters to your activities. Why not try making mud dough with Sammy skills or doing an outdoor wake and shake up with Active Azra. You can also access our Outdoor Environment page and our environment workshop from the end of October.

10th – 14th November: World Nursery Rhyme Week

Nursery rhymes play an important role in early childhood development and education. As well as being fun they are excellent teaching tools for a range of topics. Here at Startwell we love an active nursery rhyme or using music to encourage movement. Children spend too much time sitting singing songs so be creative and get everybody moving. Can you be a great role model like Suzy Startwell and get the children active with Azra by turning your nursery rhymes in to active songs? Why not check out the Active Azra Nursery Rhymes Cube Game on our website and see an example here of active nursery rhymes for babies.

13th November: World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day is celebrated throughout the World every year on 13th November. People pledge to undertake a good deed to help someone else on this day. Why not use this day as an opportunity to get the children to pledge to do a physical activity to keep their bodies healthy and a pledge to do something else for someone in the setting or at home and create a World kindness board where they can share their pledges. Remember to link in Suzy Startwell as you start off the kindness pledges.

14th November: World Diabetes Day

The purpose of this one day is to raise awareness of a condition that millions of people all around the world live with every day. Diabetes is a serious, lifelong condition where your blood glucose level is too high. There are two main types, Type 1, and Type 2. There is nothing we can do to prevent Type 1 diabetes but 12.3 million people in the UK are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Around 3 in 5 cases of type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by maintaining a healthy weight, eating well and being active. The colour and focus of World Diabetes Day is wear blue, be more physical and increase your steps. Remember to link the Startwell characters to your activities. Check out the Diabetes UK websiter here.

16th – 22nd November: Road Safety Week

Road safety week is about raising awareness of the damage that can be done to lives through driving too fast and the importance of making good choices whilst in a car but also as a pedestrian. Why not set up a road/bike track in your garden and use traffic lights to control the speed of the children driving. Link in Sammy Skills as they increase their skill of driving/riding. You could also play traffic light games with them where they need to move at different speeds according to the lights etc. You could take the children on a walk with Active Azra and use traffic lights and zebra crossings to cross safely. Check out Brake’s website for more on how you can take part.

17th – 23rd November: Sugar Awareness Week

Eating too much sugar can cause us to gain weight and has a detrimental effect on our teeth and can contribute to tooth decay. Can you promote healthy snacks for families at home and promote our 2 Snacks Max message?  Put up a Smiley Shen sugar display to highlight how much sugar is in various drinks, cereals, toast toppings, sweets, biscuits, and chocolate.  Check out Better Health, Healthier families sugar swaps and Action on Sugar for more information. For more ideas on how to protect teeth and for activity ideas to do with the children, look at Smiley Shen’s activity ideas on our Startwell Website.

20th November: Universal Children’s Day

Universal Children’s Day is celebrated across the World with a focus on improving children’s rights and welfare. Why not hold a week of activities in your setting where you focus on children looking at nursery rules and any changes that are needed that the children can action. Lots of nursery rules focus on kind hands, good sitting etc but can you add some nutrition and physical ones in – such as We try new food, we eat our fruit and vegetables with Fay 5 a Day, we keep our belly buttons moving like Active Arza etc. It’s another opportunity to look at children’s health and what keeps our bodies’ healthy and taking part in activities to keep them healthy alongside the Startwell Characters.

22nd – 30th November: National Tree Week

National tree week marks the start of tree planting season, but it has been linked to tree dressing as it coincides with the festival of Christmas as well as stories and walks all focused-on trees and their role. The dressing of a tree is meant to focus on how much you appreciate and value trees so where possible use a living tree/bush. Why not go out with the children for a walk to look at some trees and take some bark rubbings. You could sing active songs with Active Azra around a tree and link this into decorating the trees in your setting real and artificial.

30th Novmber: St Andrew’s Day

St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. On this day people gather and celebrate the day with food, celebrations, flying the Scottish flag, dancing, and storytelling. Why not make Scottish flags with coloured rice in tuff trays and listen to some traditional music such as bagpipes etc and watch how children move to the music. Remember to link in 180 Katie as the children move and dance to traditional music.

September: National Organic Month

This is a celebration of all the work farmers do to bring fresh food to our tables. Organic food isn’t necessarily healthier or more nutritious but does focus on home growing which is what Startwell would like you to undertake with the children. National Organic month looks at the journey of food from ‘farm to fork’ and is a great time to grow your own and teach children the journey of food, where your food has come from and the importance of looking after the planet and our bodies. Growing at home has disappeared from many households so growing at nursery is a great way to explore food and learn new skills. There is lots of research to support the notion that children being involved in the growing and preparation of food, means they are more likely to try the food. Get children thinking about where food grows by playing ‘Where do I grow’, this is a great Fay 5 a Day interactive game to play with children using real fruit and vegetables. Check out our food growing page here.

5th September: National Food Bank Day

National Food Bank Day aims to raise awareness of the need for Food Banks all over the UK and to highlight the work that they do in local communities. This day is an opportunity to raise awareness, encourage donations, and volunteer support to ensure that food banks can continue to assist those who require their services. Why not encourage families and staff to donate an item that can be sent to your local foodbanks. You could also do a foodbank leaflet for families to let them know where the local foodbanks are.

6th September: National Read a Book Day

Who needs an excuse to read a book? Could you promote National Read a Book Day in your setting and link it to Startwell? Picking a book with a food, physical or oral health link or making it an ‘active story’ supports our Startwell messages and characters. Check out our Active Story on our YouTube page, or our Active Story Activity Sheets on our website. Why not send us some photos to share on our social media: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

9th September: 999 Day – Emergency Services Day

99 day is a day to celebrate the work of the emergency services from nurses, doctors through to firefighters and coastguards. Suzy Startwell is an important role model for children and staff and could be used as the driver to talk about and explore a range of roles and the impact that they have on health and wellbeing.

16th September: National Guacamole Day

A day to celebrate the avocado! Why not explore avocados with the children in their whole form and then allow them to cut them up and explore their stone, flesh, skin, smell and sizes. Then make an avocado based dip and serve with homemade pitta tortillas. Follow our link to try Startwell’s Avocado and Mango Salsa. Remember to use Fay 5 a day during the activity and to talk to the children about the importance of eating fruit and vegetables as they are our protective foods.

24th September: National Fitness Day

National fitness day is a day to encourage activity and fitness. It is a day to celebrate how important physical activity in our lives to keep our bodies healthy. Children under 5 need a minimum of 180 minutes of physical activity daily to be healthy. It’s a great day to be physical and talk about the physical characters and share their messages with the children and families.

15th – 21st September: Balance Awareness Week

Imagine living life without balance? We do not really think about balancing and we take it for granted as we walk, run, climb and move but it is such an important skill. Balance is a fundamental skill necessary for maintining controlled positions, such as sitting in a chair, or engaging in physical activities like running or riding a bike. Having balance makes motor skill development easier, reduces the risk of injury, and helps children focus on academic tasks. Sammy Skills wants to know if you could promote Balance Awareness Week in your setting and deliver activities to develop balance in your children? Use your Startwell Physical Skills Toolsheet and try out a whole host of static and dynamic stability skills with Sammy Skills.

22nd – 28th September: Recycle Week

Join the big recycling hunt! Can you encourage your staff, children and families to get those belly buttons moving with Active Azra and recycle more in setting and at home? For more on Recycling Week check out Wrap’s Webpage here.

22nd September – 22nd October: Seed Gathering Season

Since 1998, The Tree Council has been organising ‘Seed Gathering Season’, the Autumn campaign to inspire everyone to gather seeds, fruits and nuts and grow the trees of the future. The festival starts each year in September and remember to be as active as possible as you gather. It is a great activity for Sammy Skills and Active Azra as you use a range of skills to pick and gather the seeds ready for sorting and planting and it keeps your belly button moving. You can then use the seeds for future growing and exploration activities with the children. For more on seed gathering click here.

26th September: World Heart Day

World Heart Day is celebrated throughout the World. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of keeping our hearts healthy. This is the perfect time to talk about 180 Katie and the importance of our heart going Boom, Boom, Boom and also talking about the foods that we eat and what is good for our heart using Fay 5 a day. Why not share the 5 Extra Years clip with parents!

29th June – 7th July: Children’s Art Week

Taking part in creative activities is beneficial for a range of reasons. Children’s Art Week is a UK-wide programme run by ‘Engage’, the National Association for Gallery Education. Why not have an art week with a physical focus where children can try a range of art to develop gross motor skills like water painting outdoors with paint rollers, spray painting using watered down paint in water spray bottles, large canvas/paper drawing/chalking, body painting, or spaghetti painting? More ideas can be found on the Startwell Pinterest Pages. Don’t forget to link in Active Azra.

1t – 31st July: National Picnic month

National Picnic Month was formed to celebrate the history of coming together to share food both indoors and outdoors. It also celebrates the way that eating together brings people, cultures, and even countries together. The good news is that picnics can take place in your home, in the garden or in the park. You can have your lunch, snack, or teatime as a picnic. Having a picnic is a fun way to enjoy your environment and can encourage reluctant eaters to try new foods. We have lots of recipes for foods which would work well for picnics. Remember to link in Micky Me Size to ensure we eat the right amount for us. Have a look at our children and family recipes on our website!

2nd July – 27th July: UEFA – Women’s Euro

Whilst women’s football isn’t as popular as men’s that is changing and we now have more girls and women’s football teams in the UK than we have ever had before. England and Wales have qualified for this tournament that is taking place in Switzerland. Don’t forget to keep track of your favourite team’s performance and support children in your setting to learn some of the skills that are integral for football. Why not set up some mini football skills sessions in your nursery for all the children to enjoy and test out their Sammy Skills such as running, ball mastery including kicking etc

5th – 27th July: Tour de France

The Tour de France is the world’s largest bike race. Cyclists travel from all over the world to compete. Bike play is always popular in settings, so this is a great opportunity to extend this interest area. Take this time to learn all about bikes, their components and how to ride them using pedals. You could even set up your own mini tour in your garden and set up a route for the bikes to follow. Remember to link in a physical character when you do your activities.

13th – 20th July: Open Championship

The Open Championship is a Golf tournament that takes place in Ireland this year. It is called an open tournament as it is open to professionals and amateurs. Sammy skills loves playing golf as it improves his manipulation skills as well as developing his eye tracking and hand eye co-ordination. Why not let the children in your setting have a go. You don’t need real golf clubs you could make some from cardboard tubes – have fun!

July-August: International Animal Days

Throughout July and August there are several national days for Rabbits, Monkeys, Snakes, Lions, Elephants, Dogs and Cats. Why not hold a national animals’ week and learn about a range of animals, their habitats and how they move? Check out our Pinterest pages for yoga animal poses and read a range of stories that the children can act out and copy the animal movements linked to Sammy Skills. This is a great time to link in animals that move fast and encourage children to move as fast as they can and increase their heart rate like 180 Katie.

19th July – 3rd August: Festival of British Archaeology

Do you have children in your setting that are interested in outdoors, digging or dinosaurs? This is a perfect event to reach out to them to extend their interests and knowledge. Why not create an archaeology dig area where each day you can hide a range of items from painted stones, fossils, dinosaurs or even pretend bones. Have fun and remember to link in Sammy Skills as the children dig and dust off their finds. This year’s theme is archaeology and wellbeing.

24th July – 8th August: National Narine Week

The Wildlife Trust promote National Marine week each year to raise awareness and celebrate all things marine! Visit the Wildlife Watch website for some fantastic activities to try in setting or at home from making seal masks, egg carton crabs and also setting up your own mini rock pools in setting so the children can explore. To link in Active Azra why not listen to some wave and under the water music to get the children moving their belly buttons or create a large water stream/play area outside where children can walk through and dip their toes in and out – the ideas are endless.

25th July – 3rd August: Love Parks Week

Love parks week is a fantastic week to highlight the importance of using our local green spaces and celebrating all the hard work that goes into keeping our parks clean and tidy. Why not do a walk to your local park to explore with the children or send out an information sheet to families letting them know where their local green spaces are. Remember to link in Active Azra and get those belly buttons moving.