Busy Things’ Activity Maker: Create custom quizzes and writing projects

We’re delighted to announce the launch of our brand new Activity Maker, now available within Busy Things’ teacher tools. Find it on the Welcome page. It’s available for all Busy Things subscribers and trialists to use.

Whether you’re creating retrieval practice quizzes, assessment activities or scaffolded writing tasks, this powerful new tool gives teachers the ability to quickly create bespoke quizzes and writing projects that look and feel just like our professionally designed activities.

What does the Activity Maker do?

The Activity Maker allows you to build fully customised learning activities, tailored to the exact needs of your class. It:

• puts you completely in control of the content
• saves valuable planning and preparation time
• allows activities to be easily shared, reused and accessed via the Busy Things platform
• ensures consistency with the familiar Busy Things look and feel

Whether you want a phonics quiz for KS1, a Roman history retrieval task for KS2 or a scaffolded science investigation write-up, the Activity Maker will help you create it in minutes.

Designed to reduce teacher workload while increasing flexibility, it makes it easy to create tailored activities without starting from scratch each time. You can even create different versions for different year groups or different ability groups within your class.

More about quizzes

You can ceate quizzes using:

• multiple choice text questions
• multiple choice image questions
• true or false questions

They can contain either a single question type or a mix of all three. What’s more, there’s no limit to the number of questions you can include.

As with all Busy Things quizzes, quizzes are automatically marked by Busy Things to save teachers time and help you quickly identify gaps in understanding, support formative assessment and plan next steps with confidence.

Applications for quizzes

The quiz tool supports a wide range of classroom uses across the primary school curriculum.

• Retrieval practice and assessment
Use quizzes for starters, plenaries and end-of-topic checks to quickly assess what pupils know and identify gaps.
• Vocabulary and subject knowledge
Great for reinforcing key terms in science, geography, history and other curriculum areas.
• Phonics and early reading
Image-supported questions help with sound recognition, word matching and early vocabulary development in literacy.
• Maths fluency
Ideal for number bonds, times tables, shape recognition and spotting misconceptions.
• SEND and EAL support
Image-based questions reduce language and accessibility barriers while supporting more tailored assessment.
• Classroom routines
Perfect for morning work, early finishers, cover lessons and transition activities.

More about writing projects

The writing project element within the Activity Maker allows teachers to design structured writing tasks, tailored to the specific needs of their pupils and lesson objectives.

Just like professionally created Busy Things writing activities, teachers can provide the following to pupils:

• a template for completion
• clear instructions and guidance information
• scaffolding such as prompts, vocabulary support and success criteria

This helps pupils, especially reluctant writers, to focus on the writing process while supporting independence and confidence.

Applications for writing projects

Writing projects can be used across the curriculum to support structured, purposeful writing.

• Narrative writing
Create story starters or character descriptions.
• Non-fiction writing
Use for instructions, reports, persuasive writing and explanations linked to real curriculum topics.
• Cross-curricular writing
Support writing in history, geography, science and RE through themed tasks.
• SPaG and sentence work
Build focused activities for grammar, punctuation and sentence construction.
• SEND and EAL support
Structured templates help pupils access writing with appropriate scaffolding.
• KS1 and early writing
Ideal for captions, simple sentences, recounting events and sequencing activities.

Using quizzes and writing projects together

One of the most powerful aspects of the Activity Maker is how easily quizzes and writing projects can be used together to support the full learning journey.

Teachers can:

• begin with a quiz to check prior knowledge
• use results to identify gaps or misconceptions
• follow up with a writing project to apply learning
• reinforce understanding through structured written tasks

For example:

• a science quiz on habitats followed by a report writing task
• a history quiz on the Romans followed by a diary entry activity
• a geography quiz on rivers followed by a travel guide project

This helps create a clear link between retrieval, understanding and application.

Summary

We hope this blog has inspired you to explore the new Activity Maker and try creating your own custom quiz or writing project. If you are already a subscriber or trialist, you’ll be able to access the new tool straightaway. If you don’t yet have a Busy Things login, you can take a free trial to explore the Activity Maker for yourself.

Whether you are focusing on knowledge retrieval, writing support or targeted intervention work, the tool is designed to help you adapt learning quickly and effectively for your class.

We would love to hear how you use it in your classroom. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future improvements, please do get in touch with us at info@busythings.co.uk. Your ideas help shape the future development of Busy Things, so we really appreciate every bit of feedback received.

FAQs

1. Where can I find the Activity Maker?
   You can access the Activity Maker from the Welcome page within your Busy Things account.
2. Who can use the Activity Maker?
   It is available for all Busy Things subscribers and trialists.
3. Can the Activity Maker be used for retrieval practice?
   Yes. The Activity Maker is ideal for retrieval practice. Teachers can quickly create short quizzes to revisit previous learning, check understanding and reinforce key knowledge, helping pupils strengthen their long-term memory and recall.
4. Can I reuse activities I create?
   Yes, activities can be saved, reused and adapted as needed.
5. What types of questions can I include in quizzes?
   You can include multiple choice text, multiple choice image, and true or false questions, or a mix of all three.
6. Are the quizzes made via the Activity Maker self-marking like Busy Things’ usual quizzes?
   Yes, they are, saving your precious time.
7. Can quizzes and writing projects include images?
   Yes, both formats allow images.
8. Can activities be adapted for SEND?
   Yes, activities can be adapted to include extra imagery or scaffolding for SEND pupils.
9. Is the Activity Maker suitable for KS1 and KS2?
   Yes. Activities can be tailored for different year groups, making the tool suitable for both KS1 and KS2 classrooms.