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Lily-Pads

A visual progress tracker where each lily-pad or stepping stone represents a success criterion, and learners move their marker forward as they meet each one.

Visual organisers
Lily-Pads diagram

A lily-pads diagram

What is lily-pads?

  • Display success criteria as a series of lily-pads, stepping stones or footsteps
  • Each learner has a marker (a frog, a character, their name)
  • As learners meet each criterion, they move their marker to the next lily-pad
  • Review progress regularly so learners can see how far they have come

How it works

Lily-pads (also known as Mr Frog, stepping stones or footsteps) make progress concrete and visual. Each lily-pad in a sequence represents a success criterion or learning target. Learners place their marker on the first lily-pad and move it forward as they demonstrate each criterion.

This works particularly well with younger learners who benefit from seeing their progress as a physical journey. A frog hopping from lily-pad to lily-pad is more engaging and meaningful than a tick list. But the principle works at any age: breaking a complex learning journey into visible, achievable steps.

The lily-pads should be displayed prominently, either as a wall display for the whole class or as individual trackers in books. When a learner meets a criterion, they move their marker and briefly explain how they have met it. This self-assessment moment is where the learning happens. It is not enough to simply move the marker; the learner must articulate what they have done.

At the end of a lesson or unit, learners can look back along the lily-pads and see their journey. They can also see which criteria they have not yet met, which naturally leads to target-setting for the next stage of learning.

Classroom example

A Year 3 class in a Carmarthenshire primary school is learning to write a recount. The teacher creates five lily-pads on the classroom wall: "Write in the past tense", "Include time connectives", "Describe feelings", "Use interesting vocabulary", and "Write a clear ending." Each learner has a paper frog with their name on it. As they draft their recount, they check each criterion and move their frog forward when they can show evidence. By the end of the lesson, most frogs have reached lily-pad three or four, and learners can clearly see what they need to focus on next.

Curriculum for Wales connection

Lily-pads develop the "Reflect" strand of thinking skills by making self-assessment visual and concrete. They support progression within the Curriculum for Wales by breaking learning into observable steps, aligned with the principle that "progression is a continuum."

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens helps you plan where visual progress tools are used across your curriculum, supporting learners in understanding and owning their progression journey.

Tips

  • Make the lily-pads physical wherever possible. Wall displays with moveable markers are more engaging than printed sheets.
  • Keep the number of lily-pads manageable. Four to six per task is plenty.
  • A common pitfall: moving markers without evidence. Learners must explain how they have met the criterion before they move forward.
  • Use lily-pads for ongoing targets too, not just single lessons. A term-long lily-pad display for handwriting targets, for example.
  • Celebrate reaching the final lily-pad. Recognition reinforces the value of self-assessment.

Source: Adapted from "How to develop thinking and assessment for learning in the classroom", Welsh Assembly Government, Guidance 044/2010.