Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

A couple of years ago we had a special removable tray-top built to slide over the top of one of our existing rectangular tables.

The tray is made from a laminated table top (about 10cm wider than the table it sits upon). It has two long thin pieces of timber (about 3cm high) screwed along the under side of the tray, far enough apart to fit snuggly over the existing table top so it can’t slide around.

It also has a three centimeter lip, glued and screwed (from beneath) all the way around the top edge of the tray in order to keep it’s contents from spilling or falling off.

Originally we were thinking it would be great for sensory play like finger paint or shaving cream as the lip would stop spills, but over time we have used it for a multitude of things and found it to be one of the most useful pieces of equipment we have.

We have used it for everything including imaginary play, sand, salt and clay.

It holds water as well as finger paint, shaving cream, flour goop, slime etc., and it’s great for keeping puzzle pieces off the floor. It keeps glitter and confetti confined to the table top and is invaluable when the children are playing with the lego blocks.

A big bonus is, you don’t have to disturb or pack up the children’s play if the table is needed …

… as you can simply move the tray to the floor.

We have seen similar tops but they were permanent tables, not removable trays and they had gaps cut out of the corners to make cleaning easier, but they didn’t contain liquid like our tray-top does.

Cleaning our tray-top has never been an issue as we are able to use a brush and shovel to clean up dry materials and scoop any messy wet play up against the lip with a spatular without having it leak through gaps and spill onto the floor. We can even carry it outside to give it a good scrubbing down when necessary.

So, if you a think a tray-top like this would be useful to you, our advise would be; have one made without any corner gaps and make it a removable top, that way you gain an extra surface … we wouldn’t be without it!

A simple and delightfully smelling sensory activity is shaving cream. Sometimes we just pop it onto the work space straight out of the can.

Other times we (or the children) choose to add some ‘colour’ to the activity, we add sprinkles of edicol dye (not too much as it stains the children’s hands) which the children then mix in to make it look different and beautiful.

It is also a simple and fun colour mixing activity.

Shaving cream has a beautiful texture which enables the children to do some creative drawing.

And as shaving cream is simply soap in a can a bucket of water and a towel kept beside the table makes for a quick had wash when the children have finished. Sure beats a shaving cream trail being plopped along the floor all the way to the bathroom.