This week the children at MonkeyMoos have had the chance to explore some more amazing trays this week!!! Worthing created their very own pizza making station this is a current interest of the children in the preschool room. The tray was created to encourage the children’s fine motor skills as well as communication and language, maths and expressive arts and designs. The children were also able to work together so encouraged team building. Highdown created their very own save the planet tuff tray the aim was to teach the children why it is important we recycle and the things we can do to reduce energy and how this all impacts the world. And. lastly Winklebury created their very own ocean which had a lot of different sensory aspects as sensory play is a big interest of all the children at the moment. The children also learnt which animals might live in the sea and which animals live on the beach etc.

All of these are tuff trays are amazing and the children were able to enjoy while learning but which tray will be this weeks winners………….

Worthing’s pizza tuff tray

INTENT ~ This week I linked the tuff tray to the preschooler current  new intrest in making pizza out of play dough activities. This tuff tray allowed the children to use their fine motor skills to roll their pizza bases into a circle using their hands and using their hands to use the rolling pin and add their ingredients to their pizza’s. This tray also allowed the children to ask questions and make their own decisions in what they wanted to add to their pizza. 

IMPLEMENTATION ~ In the the tray I have provided all the resources that the preschoolers needed to create their pizza. I made play dough which they used for the base of their pizza and rolling pins to roll their play dough out with. I used tomato puree for the sauce and also grated cheese for their toppings too. I also cut out toppings such as mushrooms, pepperoni and pineapple if they wished to add more to their pizza’s. The tray was also filled with  a pizza menu, pictures of pizza and a pizza order sheet to encourage the children to ask questions. 

IMPACT ~ The preschoolers loved the pizza tuff tray and the idea of making their own pizza. When the children first saw the tray they couldn’t wait to get started. They asked each other questions such as what do you want on your pizza? And would like like to try my pizza?. The children were very excited with their end result and wanted to show all their friends their pizzas they had made. This activity was a success and the preschoolers asked for the rest of the week if we can carry on making pizza with play dough!

Highdown’s world environment day tuff tray

INTENT ~ The intention behind the tray was because of world environment day. I wanted the children to learn the importance of recycling different materials and the importance of reusing and reducing energy and how it impacts the world and the creatures that live on the planet.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ In order to create the ‘save our planet’ effect on the tuff tray I used rice and dyed I blue to make it look like the sea, I added printed general waste and some turtles to create an impact of ‘safe the turtles’. I also used red, orange, and yellow ripped up tissue paper to make a fire effect and added some trees for ‘save the trees.’ I then drew the earth as half polluted and the other half healthy to show the before and after effects of not reusing, recycling and reducing.

IMPACT ~ The children were really enthusiastic about learning the different materials and how to reuse them in different ways. The children also enjoyed removing the waste from the ‘sea’ in order to save the turtles.

Winklebury’s World ocean day tuff tray

INTENT ~ This week’s tuff tray is based on the national day – World Ocean’s day! We decided to choose this idea for the tuff tray because the children really enjoy the different sensory resources and they really enjoy using sea animals in their play so we decided to combine the two for World Ocean Day! The children watched me set up the tray and they had so many questions (for example, Can we play in it? Can we help? What sea animal is that? Etc). The children were very eager to join in and take part in this week’s tuff tray. 

IMPLEMENTATION ~ The tray consisted of crushed up cornflakes, crushed up rice krispies, crushed up digestives, shaving foam, and blue cornflour. I crushed up the cornflakes, rice krispies and digestives to make it look like sand. We mixed blue powder paint with the cornflour to make the ocean. We used shaving foam to make it look like waves in the ocean. 

IMPACT ~ The children really enjoyed taking part and getting messy in this tray. They used their fingers and hands to mix and feel the different sensory resources. They used their imagination to create their own play with the sea animals and other resources. The children have really enjoyed exploring this tray and using their own imagination.