Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Trays!

We're getting on a little bit of a routine around here as far as "set times" to do certain activities goes.  One of those being crafts/hands-on learning activities!  The absolute best time, we have discovered is right after Savannah's nap...mainly because Noah usually sleeps for another hour beyond that!  So, this gives the two of us uninterrupted time!  There is a wonderful resource here for a concept called "tot trays."  I love them....Savannah LOVES them!  She asks me now everyday before her nap...."Mommy, what's my tray gonna be today?" (Some days, I already know...some days...my mind is stirring as she asks that question and I am also asking myself..."what IS her tray going to be today?"  Some days the activity exposes a skill...some days the tray is just fun!!

Since we've just started, each day is a new tray!  And that's exciting to both of us.  Most days, we work on them together.  There have been a couple of days where I work with her for a while, then leave her to work independently while I do something else. 

Why do I love the "tray" concept?  
  • it's different!
  • it engages Savannah!
  • it gives her a sense of space helping her to understand what supplies go with the activity.
  • it makes clean up easy!
  • the trays can be prepared quickly using the simplest of materials.
So, here goes...this was our first tray.  She found them in the kitchen when she got up from her nap.  There were 2.  She could do them both, but had to choose one at the time and put that tray back before moving to the next one. 

Tray 1) 2 pipe cleaners and a container of beads! That's it! But you would have thought I had set out a bowl full of skittles!

Tray 2) A wooden square with objects/numbers (english and spanish) and 3 markers (this came as a set from Michael's for .49! I purchased several!)

The bead tray was her first choice, although she did them both.  After drawing with the markers on the square, she asked to do the bead tray again!

Then, she asked for the tongs!  So, I brought them out and added them to the tray.  

Reason for the laughter in this picture...I made a bracelet with one of the pipe cleaners and some beads, and she thought it would be so funny to pull all the beads off!  =) Silly girl.

Since then, she has asked for the beads several times!  

...Stay tuned for more of our "tot tray" encounters from this past week...and in case you're wondering, Noah will be doing trays too! =)

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