This week the children at MonkeyMoos have had the chance to explore some amazing trays this week!!! Worthing created a messy beach tuff tray to encourage the children to learn that rubbish needs to go into bins and not left on the roads/paths and beaches. Highdown created a French breakfast tuff tray to encourage to explore different breakfast foods associated with France whilst learning how to say the foods in French and making their own French breakfast. And lastly Winklebury created based on May’s national smile month to encourage messy and sensory component as it is the babies favourite activity. But who will be the winners…..
World environment day tuff tray
INTENT ~ This weeks tuff tray theme is linked to World Environment Day on Monday! From this tuff tray I wanted the children to learn that rubbish needs to go into bins and not left on the roads/paths and beaches. I wanted to also talk to the children about leaving the rubbish on the beach and how it can be dangerous for the sea animals. Then for the children to understand keeping the beaches clean, I would like for this children to help clean the beach tuff tray and learn to put the rubbish into the bin.
IMPLEMENTATION ~ In the the tray I have provided all the resources that will create a beach experience with some water and sand with a range of different sea creatures. In the tray are a mixture of different types of items that are classed as rubbish. There is also a makeshift bin for the children to put all the rubbish in.
IMPACT ~ From doing this activity this children were able to identify all the rubbish in the water and able to name what the item of rubbish was. They were also able to pick up the item from the water and placed it back into the bin. The children and the practitioner talked about making sure that the rubbish needs to go into the bin when once we are finished with the item to ensure that the sea creatures are kept safe!
French breakfast tuff tray
INTENT ~ The idea around this tuff tray was based around France Day as i wanted the children to explore different breakfast foods associated with France whilst learning how to say the foods in French and making their own French breakfast. The tray also encouraged some of our picky eaters to explore new foods by scooping up rice in their hands and using different tools, choosing toppings to spread on their toast, croissants and macarons. It was also an opportunity for the children to interact with each other and talk about what they eat at home.
IMPLANTATION ~ For the tray, I laid out different French breakfast foods with their French name for the children to explore. I used white and yellow paint to represent eggs, cups of white paint to represent milk. croissants, macarons, bread and yellow paper to represent cheese. By adding real food and messy play allowed our SEN children and younger ones to explore different textures of food and new foods. Along with the French breakfast foods I laid out a variety of jams, flour, sprinkles and knives for the children to spread onto their croisants, toast, macarons and sandwiches.
IMPACT ~ The children were eager to get stuck into the tray and were able to identify the different foods scattered around the tray, attempting to say each item in French – ‘du lait’ for milk, ‘un oeuf’ for egg and ‘au pain’ for bread. The children each chose from strawberry jam, apricot jam, raspberry jam, flour and sprinkles to spread onto their croissants, toast or macarons using a knife. The younger children enjoyed exploring the different foods using their hands to feel the textures and knives to scoop up the jam and cut up the food.
Bright sunshine tuff tray
INTENT ~ This weeks tuff tray is based on Mays national smile month. I wanted to create a bright and colourful as well as edible tray for the babies. I took into consideration the ages of babies I was aiming for so the edible component was safe and the babies were less likely to choke. I also wanted to add a messy and sensory component as it is the babies favourite activity.
IMPLAMATION ~ When thinking about how to set out the tray and what to use, I decided to do a sun out of cornflakes because when I think of smile I think of the sun shining bright!. I sprinkled some yellow powder to create the brightness part of my idea. In the middle of the tray I placed shaving foam in a small tray with a smiley face made from yellow paint in the middle for the extra sensory component.
IMPACT ~ The babies really enjoyed this tray! As soon as they arrived in the baby room they went straight to the tray and their faces lit up and smiled. They used all their senses to investigate and explore the different sensory materials. Some babies used their hands to crunch the cornflakes and swish around the powder- they throughly enjoyed looking at their yellow hands!. Some babies had a cheeky taste of the cornflakes and showed they enjoyed it by smiling back at me!. They all enjoyed feeling the shaving foam between their fingers and squeezing and clenching their hands together to explore the shaving foam!
