This week the children at MonkeyMoos have had the chance to explore some more amazing trays!!! All three trays this week were amazing and very inviting and the children were able to learn new and different things.

INTENT ~ Children to work together and take turns, balance objects while counting objects into a tower (1,2,3), pushing and pulling cars backwards and forwards and role playing with small world people on a building site like the one outside our nursery.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ using different size wooden blocks as bricks, different shape and size cars to create the JCB we see outside the window, wooden people to create builders which we see outside our window when coming to and from nursery and sand to recreate cement to build the blocks together. Add jugs, shades and buckets to scoop and measure using the sand.

IMPACT ~ The children worked together passing the wooden blocks (sharing), made music by banging the bricks together, used the word “tar” and completed building a 3 to 5 level tower.

INTENT ~ I wanted to make an activity for all age groups to enjoy, and to spark conversation between the children and their peers. Our children love role playing with the animals and driving their cars on the car mat. So I thought creating a world they can travel through will be something everyone can enjoy. As much as I wanted to make an interactive tuff tray, I also wanted the children to use multiple senses. What they see, what they would hear in these places, what the material feels like on the tuff tray.

IMPLEMENTATION ~ I used 4 different types of material to map out each land. Flour for ‘Dinosaur Land’, oats for ‘The Safari’, blue rainbow ribbon for ‘The Rapid Ocean’, rice and lentils for ‘Fantasy Island’. I used describing words for each place to read to the children. I used the train tracks to guide the children with the cars through the ‘World’ I had created. I used the dinosaur toys for ‘Dinosaur Land’. Different types of animals were used for ‘The Safari’ e.g a Cheetah, farm animals, a Giraffe, and other animals that the childten brought me when I was setting up. I used the boat toys we have for ‘The Rapid Ocean’ alongside some animals you’d find in the sea. For ‘Fantasy Island’ I used a fairyhouse, gnoms, a unicorn, a sweet shop, part of the rainbow to make a bridge, and tried to make it as colourful as possible.

IMPACT ~ The children absolutely loved this tuff tray. The children interacted with eachother and played with each other so nicely, being inclusive of all age groups. There were alot of conversations sparked, they especially loved comparing what animals they had, and things they knew about that animal. They would make car noises going around the track, and screamed when it came to ‘Dinosaur Land’. It was lovely to see the children really using their imaginations as well, pretending to be the safari park owner, and letting out ROARS! All the children were laughing and having so much fun!

INTENT ~ The intent for this tray was at the children’s interests of dinosaurs. The children have shown a huge interest in dinosaurs with the different sizes , how they stomp around and how they eat their food. We wanted to see if the children could walk like dinosaurs from singing the dinosaur song and pretending to be dinosaurs. 

IMPLEMENTATION ~ To create this tray I used blue dyed rice to create the stream where the dinosaurs had a bath and also drink from. I also used soil where the dinosaurs were able to make different marks with their feet and also where they could hide from their prey. I also used the astro turf grass to create the land for the dinosaurs where they could reach up to eat their food. We then pretended to be dinosaurs whilst moving our bodies and stamping from the children imagination.

IMPACT ~ The Children absolutely loved to explore this tray and used their hands and  imaginations of what they think different dinosaurs did and explored the different textures around the tray with their hands. The children enjoyed feeding the dinosaurs soil where the little animals had been hiding and pretended to fight with the big dinosaurs to protect the little dinosaurs from being eaten. The children also enjoyed getting their hands messy from the different textures they could feel and it was also part of the children’s interest. We had a roar some time.

INTENT ~ The idea around the tray was based around the book of the month which was ‘the Gruffalo’, the children have a big interest in story books especially this book. I wanted to extend their learning through activities they enjoys which is sensory, role play and stories. 

IMPLEMENTATION ~ To set up the tray I added different sensory aspects which all included all different textures. I added the book, for the children that are not so keen on messy play. Around the tray using different textures  I included the words from the story to help the children repeat words from the story. 

IMPACT ~ The children got stuck in straight away and went for the different textures and used their imagination to make different foods. Some children pointed to the book and said “it’s the Gruffalo!” With this the story was read out and the children used their imagination even further.