Tuff tray round up - March
Glossing over the fact that it is nearly the end of April and I am only just getting to this, here is a round up of our tuff tray efforts from March. I think it's fair to say the novelty of the tuff tray is wearing off for the older two so it is becoming harder to set things up that hold their attention. A, on the other hand, is still loving it and is generally happy with quick set ups.
Our first themed tuff tray for the month was for Pancake Day. We haven't done much ice or water over winter so I froze some lemon segments into ice cubes and added some utensils, flour and oats. It turns out that the combination of melting ice cubes and flour wasn't great, it all ended up a bit gloopy! I think it's fair to say the boys take after me in not being keen on textures like that and once things started to melt they lost interest.
The following week was World Maths Day so I went for a nice simple set up with number cards, our painted wooden numbers from Ikea and pom poms in egg trays.
I had a first go at a tinker tray style set up the following week, with some loose parts and the plastic bottles we got from Home Bargains a few months ago. Both A and T love the bottles so this one went down really well - for several days I was being brought bottles stuffed full of things to admire (and often take the lid back off!).
I finally got round to using the dried lavender I bought months ago to make lavender rice. Again, this was a really quick set up (and making the rice was really quick once I got on and did it) that proved popular. By the end of the day they had filled a big bowl with the rice, Duplo blocks and many tiny pieces of paper - no idea why but they were happy and quiet while doing it!
We went back to our trusted rainbow colours this week for a rainbow threading tuff tray. Middle son in particular still loves threading things so this one went down well and I found it very pleasing to look at!
We had a bonus tuff tray for the spring equinox, courtesy of eldest son. The note instructed his brothers to save the sheep and balls from drowning. Not sure what prompted this (or really what it means!) but I love it when something grabs his imagination and he takes over.
I was quite proud of my dinosaur rescue set up but it was surprisingly unpopular with the boys. About three days after I set it up T wandered along and 'rescued' all the dinosaurs from the masking tape! It's not all bad though - the improving weather has meant they would rather be outside on the trampoline than playing inside with the tuff tray and I'm quite happy with that.
This set up was actually in April but I've snuck it on the end of the list as it was still the spring term at school! I cheated (mainly because I couldn't face getting the tuff tray in from the rain and drying it off) and set up a tinker tray instead. It's fair to say this one has not been successful - smallest boy has spent a bit of time building towers with me but that has been it. The concept of loose parts is still new to them - they are much more in their comfort zones when faced with blocks or track that has a more obvious purpose - but I am going to persevere. It was also fast approaching the end of term and everyone was getting tired - their enthusiasm for entertaining themselves and using their imaginations definitely goes down at these times.
Our first themed tuff tray for the month was for Pancake Day. We haven't done much ice or water over winter so I froze some lemon segments into ice cubes and added some utensils, flour and oats. It turns out that the combination of melting ice cubes and flour wasn't great, it all ended up a bit gloopy! I think it's fair to say the boys take after me in not being keen on textures like that and once things started to melt they lost interest.
The following week was World Maths Day so I went for a nice simple set up with number cards, our painted wooden numbers from Ikea and pom poms in egg trays.
I had a first go at a tinker tray style set up the following week, with some loose parts and the plastic bottles we got from Home Bargains a few months ago. Both A and T love the bottles so this one went down really well - for several days I was being brought bottles stuffed full of things to admire (and often take the lid back off!).
I finally got round to using the dried lavender I bought months ago to make lavender rice. Again, this was a really quick set up (and making the rice was really quick once I got on and did it) that proved popular. By the end of the day they had filled a big bowl with the rice, Duplo blocks and many tiny pieces of paper - no idea why but they were happy and quiet while doing it!
We went back to our trusted rainbow colours this week for a rainbow threading tuff tray. Middle son in particular still loves threading things so this one went down well and I found it very pleasing to look at!
We had a bonus tuff tray for the spring equinox, courtesy of eldest son. The note instructed his brothers to save the sheep and balls from drowning. Not sure what prompted this (or really what it means!) but I love it when something grabs his imagination and he takes over.
I was quite proud of my dinosaur rescue set up but it was surprisingly unpopular with the boys. About three days after I set it up T wandered along and 'rescued' all the dinosaurs from the masking tape! It's not all bad though - the improving weather has meant they would rather be outside on the trampoline than playing inside with the tuff tray and I'm quite happy with that.
This set up was actually in April but I've snuck it on the end of the list as it was still the spring term at school! I cheated (mainly because I couldn't face getting the tuff tray in from the rain and drying it off) and set up a tinker tray instead. It's fair to say this one has not been successful - smallest boy has spent a bit of time building towers with me but that has been it. The concept of loose parts is still new to them - they are much more in their comfort zones when faced with blocks or track that has a more obvious purpose - but I am going to persevere. It was also fast approaching the end of term and everyone was getting tired - their enthusiasm for entertaining themselves and using their imaginations definitely goes down at these times.
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