You could use wp_get_recent_posts() to get the latest posts, like:
<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php
$args = array( 'numberposts' => '5' );
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );
foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
echo '<li><a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '" title="Look '.esc_attr($recent["post_title"]).'" >' . $recent["post_title"].'</a> </li> ';
}
?>
</ul>
Then, use get_the_post_thumbnail() to get the Featured Image of the posts, like:
if ( has_post_thumbnail($thumbnail->ID)) {
echo '<a href="' . get_permalink( $thumbnail->ID ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( $thumbnail->post_title ) . '">';
echo get_the_post_thumbnail($thumbnail->ID, 'thumbnail');
echo '</a>';
}
Mix it all together, and you could have something like this in the end:
<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php
$args = array( 'numberposts' => '5' );
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );
foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
if ( has_post_thumbnail($recent["ID"])) {
echo '<li>' . get_the_post_thumbnail($recent["ID"], 'thumbnail') . '</li>';
}
}
?>
</ul>
Finally, add some CSS:
ul { list-style: none; }
ul li { display: block; width: 45%; float: left; }
You sure have to style this one more than I did 😉