This weeks tuff trays were all inspired and based around CHILDREN IN NEED! We had three different ideas, Winklebury created a Pudsey face using sand and the colour yellow, Caversham created a Pudsey have using yellow sand and different coloured rice for dots, whilst Worthing created a yummy fruit punch for Pudsey.

WINKLEBURY – Pudsey with sand

INTENT: this weeks tuff tray was based around children in need week! The intent for this tray was to help introduce Children in need and Pudsey Bear to our younger children, whilst continuing to teach our older children about children in need and what we do in this week! The colour yellow was an important element in this tray, as Pusey Bear is yellow and I wanted our children to link this colour to Pudsey. I added food colouring to create the colourful dots on Pudsey bandana as they coloured the Cheerios over night, this as to help the children learn about how we wear colourful and spotty clothing during children in need week, encouraging sense of community.

IMPLEMENTATION: for this tray, I created Pudsey’s face out of blended wheatabix, leaving some thicker pieces of wheatabix to add to the sandy texture of the blend. I made a Pudsey’s bandana out of rice and added Cheerios on top to create Pudsey’s colourful dots. I added food colouring on top of the Cheerios, yellow, green and red. I used black paint to create Pudsey’s eyes, smile and nose. I added some yellow sensory resources for messy play, feathers, pipe cleaners, and sticks. I also added different bears, to link to Pudsey and his colourful bandana.

INPACT: Once the tuff tray was completed, the children had come over to explore the tray! The children loved exploring the Pudsey tray. The children were fascinated by the face of Pudsey and we’re asking their grown ups “who’s that?” This encouraged the children to ask questions about Pudsey, who he is and what he is for. This led into a great conversation about helping out others and being kind to everyone, family and friends. The children loved playing in the sandy wheatabix end even had a cheeky nibble of some of the wheatabix or Cheerios. The younger ones were happy to pick up the sandy texture and pour it out of their friends hands, whilst older ones used their sticks and feathers to engage their mark making abilities and create marks in the wheatabix! The children recognised the smell of the sandy wheatabix, and started to taste it to see if it was really wheatabix! Overall the children were fascinated with this tray and being introduced to Pudsey bear.

CAVERSHAM – Pudsey using different coloured rice

INTENT: This weeks tuff tray was based around children in need. We wanted the children to explore the day in a fun and exciting way and using their interest which is messy play, we created a Pudsey tray using rice and adding different colours to represent Pudsey bear. With the tray we wanted them to have something to take part so we left the eye patch and added different colours around the tray for the children to add to it. With this it can encourage communicating about the colours they can see and textures when they feel the rice. The tray was also to encourage children to take part in an activity they may haven’t before. With this they could develop friendships as well as exploring different colours of Pudsey without using the rice by looking at the sequins or pictures.

IMPLEMENTATION: In this tray, we added a big Pudsey to the middle of the tray using white and yellow rice to represent Pudsey bear. Around the tray we added different coloured rice for the children to add to the eye patch to make Pudsey bear all colourful. We added a title of “oh no Pudsey has lost his spots” so that the children could ask questions and know what the activity was about.For the children that are not so keen on messy play we added pictures of Pudsey and sequins so that they could still take part if they wanted to. 

IMPACT: The children were very keen on exploring the Pudsey tray and got stuck in. They started by exploring the different coloured rice by using their hands and moving them side to side so they could mix the colours together. As they were exploring the rice with their hands they were able to talk about the textures they could feel, “it’s sticky”, “It’s cold”, “it’s wet.” The children identified the colours they could see and once mixed together they began to sing ‘the rainbow song’ as they made a “rainbow.” Once all the rice was mixed together the Pudsey bears were hiding underneath. With encouragement they found themselves some tweezers and began to use their fine motor skills to pinch the Pudsey’s and collected them together. Afterwards they used their skills to see how many Pudsey’s they rescued. The children then began to use their imagination by adding bowls and spoons. With this the children were able to make some yummy pretend Pudsey cakes and Pudsey soup.  

WOTHING – Pudsey fruit punch

INETENT: We created a wonderful tray for children in need this week. We wanted the children to learn about what children in need is and what they do for the children who aren’t as fortunate as us. We wanted the children to know who Pudsey was as well. We used vocabulary such as Pudsey, punch and sour. We wanted the children to be able to explore their tastes from sour to sweet, we also wanted the children to learn to our their own drinks.

IMPLEMENTATION: I made the tray colourful by cutting slices of oranges and lemons and placing them around the tray. As the base the tray j sprinkled some flour over it. I then made some orange squash in some jugs and placed them in the middle if the tray with some sliced oranges and lemons to give it some more flavour. I placed the cups around the tray with some spoons and next to them for the children to mix the squash. I then placed pictures of Pudsey around the tray for the children to look at. I placed key words and questions around the tray to prompt me to use them.

IMPACT: the children were so excited to come and explore our Pudsey punch tray. They sat down and listened to their practitioner explaining what our tray was about. They tried to guess what the bear was called “bear” they said. The practitioner told them it was called “Pudsey.” They each poured the punch into their cups, steadily pouring it in. The practitioner the asked them if they wanted to taste the oranges, they each licked them and saying they were “good.” I then asked them If they wanted to taste the lemons, they picked them up and said “yuck” all pulling funny faces. The practitioner said “what does it taste like. Good or sour?” They each replied “sour”. At the end the practitioner asked if they would like to drink their drinks …… they all said “yes” and enjoyed the “punch”. They absolutely loved the tray.

But of course there can only be one winner….. Caversham is the winner this week! Well done to FRAN HUGHES! DEPUTY!