This week the children at MonkeyMoos have had the chance to explore some more amazing trays this week!!! All three trays this week were completely different and they were able to learn different things. Worthing created a lasagne tuff tray to help celebrate Garfield day. The tray was able to teach the children to learn all about lasagne. Highdown created their tray based on National Day Hydration Day. The children always enjoy water play so I wanted them to have access to filling up their own cups to promote independence and keeping themselves hydrated. The children were also able to learn about water safety and why it is important to drink lots of water throughout the day. Winklebury created their tray based around insect week. The children were able to learn about different types of insects and where you would tend to find them during the day and during the night.

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 tuff tray

INTENT ~ This week I created a lasagne tuff tray to help celebrate Garfield day, as Garfield’s favourite food to eat is Lasagne and some of the children may not have experienced the delight of eating lasagne. I wanted to explain to the children where lasagne comes from and what goes into making it as they may have eaten it but not know how it is made.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ I put flour on the bottom of the tray to brighten it up. I used cooked pasta with dark paint to make it look like cooked meat. On the tray I put tomato puree, on the tray I put tinned tomatoes for the children to mix together to create a pasta sauce. On the tray we added cheese sauce and lasagne sheets. On the tray I added a recipe and photos of lasagne for the children to look at. I added photos of Garfield to the tray. In the centre I added a tray to make the lasagne.

IMPACT ~ The preschoolers really enjoyed making lasagne. We looked at a recipe of how to make lasagne. They took turns to lay lasagne sheets on the bottom of the tray. They then took it in turns to add the tomato puree to the tinned tomatoes with a spoon. The children sang “stir, stir, stir” while they were stirring them together.  We then aded the tomato sauce to the lasagne sheets. We then used a large serving spoon to add the cooked meat looking pasta to the lasagne. We then topped this layer with cheese sauce that we spooned on. We then added another layer of pasta. We spoke about what we eat with our lasagne like chips or salad. We learnt the words “ lasagne, Garfield, pasta, tomatoes and cheese” the children said “it looks yummy I want to eat lasagne.”

Highdown’s tuff tray

INTENT ~ I based my tray on the National Day Hydration Day. As the sun has been shining, the children have been having lots of hydration time to make sure they are keeping safe and cool in this hot weather. The children always enjoy water play so I wanted them to have access to filling up their own cups to promote independence and keeping themselves hydrated and their friends by ticking off the drink chart once they had had a whole cup of water. I also wanted the children to learn about water safety and why it is important to drink lots of water throughout the day.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ The way I set up this tray was by making sure the cups and jugs of water were at the children’s level to promote children to fill up their own cups and encourage each other to stay hydrated by drinking the whole cup of water poured, along with a daily water chart for the children to check off when they have had a cup of water to keep refreshed. In the tray, there were different facts on how to use water safely and why drinking lots of water throughout the day is important to allow the children’s knowledge and understanding to grow further. For the creative and messy children, I scattered paper water bottles around the tuff tray for the Monkey Mooers to decorate their own and talk about their water bottles at home and why we drink water.

IMPACT ~ The children were eager to get started with exploring the water themed tuff tray by continuing to go up and hold the water jugs asking the adult “can we do it now”. Once, the tray was ready to be explored, the children gathered around the tray and listened carefully to the adult about what the tray was for. The children learnt all about water safety and why it is important to drink lots of water and stay hydrated throughout the day especially when it is sunny using sentences such as “drinking lots of water makes us healthy and strong” and “if we do lots of running around outside, we need to drink water”. The Monkey Mooers also liked taking it in turns to fill up the jugs of water at the water station and pour their friends a drink before encouraging them to drink the cup and tick off the water chart. Some of the children liked decorating water bottles whilst discussing what designs they have on their bottles at home.

Winklebury’s tuff tray

INTENT ~ As it is insect week I decided to focus this tray on different types of insects and where you would tend to find them during the day and during there night. I gave the tray a simple structure of earth, ground and a night sky theme so the children could clearly identify the areas.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ In our insect tray I used soil , fake grass, glitter and real leaves, twigs and flowers from outside of the nursery. The tray is set as a scene of where different insects live, play and explore. There was magnifying glasses to take a closer look, tongs to enhance fine motor skills and a touch to indicate a dark night.  

IMPACT ~ The children were very intrigued about all the different insects and the layout of the tray , they enjoyed using the tongs to move the insects and flowers around the tray. We also spoke about where insects live, if they fly, if they hop and crawl. The children also enjoyed the different sensory aspects of the items too especially the real leaves textures snd soil in their fingers.