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Gifting the 2026 Bookbug Explorer Bag

Get little ones ready to explore with Bookbug!

The Bookbug Explorer Bag provides an ideal opportunity to build links between your setting and the family home. Every ante-preschool child in Scotland receives a free Bookbug Explorer Bag. It includes books and materials to encourage families to read, sing and play with their children.

A note on the bags:

This year, we are asking early years settings (where possible) to gift the Bookbug Explorer bags during Bookbug Week (18–24 May 2026). By having a national approach, we can make a big splash about it and increase awareness of the benefits of sharing stories, songs and rhymes to all families.

To find out when your setting will be receiving Bookbug Explorer bags, please get in touch with your local Bookbug Co-ordinator.

Ideas and activities

Early years staff say they notice a difference in children’s excitement and engagement if children are familiar with the books and know they will receive their own copies.

You could:

Frequently asked questions

Which children should I be gifting the Explorer bags to this year?

The Bookbug Explorer bags are for children in their ante-pre-school year. These are the children who will be starting Primary 1 in August 2027. We’re aware that some of the children will be 3 and some will be 4.

We haven’t received Explorer bags for our setting yet. How can we get some?

If you haven’t received bags yet and think you should have, please get in touch with your local Bookbug Co-ordinator. If you are based in Glasgow, please be aware that our Glasgow Bookbug Co-ordinators are currently trying to deal with a storage issue so the bags will be delayed this year.

Should we gift the Explorer bags to 2-year-olds?

Please do not gift the Explorer bag to any 2-year-olds. This is mainly down to a safety issue – the colouring pencils in the Explorer bags are only suitable for those over 3 years. Also, there shouldn’t be any 2-year-olds in the ante-preschool year so they shouldn’t be eligible anyway.

We have already gifted Explorer bags to the ante-preschool children in our setting. Should we be giving out more Explorer bags in May?

Because we’ve just shifted the gifting timeline this year, there are a few local authorities who gifted their bags in the autumn term of 2025. This means that they shouldn’t gift any Explorer bags in May as these children will have already received their bag. We understand it will take a year or two for all areas to be giving out their bags during Bookbug Week.

We received the 2025 Explorer bags in our delivery rather than the 2026 Explorer bags. What should we do?

We always try to use up older bags before sending out newer ones, to avoid waste. This means that a few local authorities will receive the slightly older bags. But there is nothing to worry about. The contents are just as good and all the information is still in date. The resources for the 2025 bags can be accessed here.

Can we gift the Explorer bags to the pre-schoolers? We have a mixed setting and always feel bad just giving out the bags to the ante-preschoolers and not the pre-schoolers.

The Explorer Bags are only for children in their ante-preschool setting, not pre-schoolers. We only create enough bags for one per child, so double gifting can cause problems. We understand it can be difficult in mixed-age settings and have created this resource to help you. And of course you can always remind the children that they received the bag last year.

Will we receive an Explorer Resource Kit this year?

In previous years we’ve sent out Explorer Resource Kits which included copies of the books and activity suggestions to all Early Years settings across Scotland. Unfortunately due to funding restrictions, we are unable to do that this year. However, there are lots of great resources available on our website, including films of the books being read so that practitioners can familiarise themselves with the stories before gifting them.

Find out more

For more information about gifting the Explorer Bag, you can download the Explorer Gifting Guidance.

You can also find curriculum-linked activities for each of the books in this year's Explorer Bag here:

Downloads