Tray Time

My friend, Rachael, wanted a few ideas for "Tray Time." We do these activities most weekday mornings, and, depending on the activity, Caleb and my girls will keep busy for about 45 minutes-1 hour. These are not my own ideas. Most anything I do is thought up in someone else's head. :) I'd like to stress here that these are to be done by your children independently. The temptation to help them along will be strong at first. Let your children explore and experiment, learning by trial and error. Of course you may offer assistance, if needed, especially if they get frustrated. My rule of thumb is: put it away if it ceases to be fun. And you always want to be close by so no one chokes on beads or sticks them in strange places.

This activity is fun! I went to Walmart and got several paint chips (2 of every color that I chose). I cut up one of the sets and glued them onto clothespins.

Try to find ones where the colors aren't too close in shade, or you'll have to sit there and do it with them or for them. Remember, you want them to work independently!

For this activity, have your kids string beads onto pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaners are nice and stiff, so they work well for little fingers. One thing you can do to add variety (and to lengthen the amount of time) is to have several colors of pipe cleaners on the tray and ask your child to sort the beads by color and string them onto pipe cleaners of matching colors.

My kids did this activity at MOPS yesterday, and I thought it would be great for our Tray Time. This activity involves stringing Fruit Loops onto a piece of string. You'll have to stiffen the ends of the string with non-toxic glue so they won't fray.

This activity is a little more challenging for my girls, because the string bends and flops around. They do much better with pipe cleaners.

Phil spotted these cute egg trays at Target. I had my girls pick up craft pom poms with a spoon or with a pair of tongs and place them into the compartments on the egg tray. I had them sort the pom poms by size and color to prolong this activity. You can also use ice cube trays.

If the tongs are too difficult, try using clips that you would use to close bags of crackers or chips. Sorry the picture is so dark.

I had already posted this activity earlier in the week...stack Cheerios onto spaghetti noodles that are standing upright in Play-doh.

I also posted pictures of this activity in a previous post. This is probably one that keeps them entertained the longest. I put dried rice and beans in a bowl and let them spoon or scoop them into a jar using a funnel. Sometimes we use lentils. And sometimes I hide beads and things in the rice, beans and lentils.

Here are some more ideas to place on trays (sorry, I don't have pictures):

• stickers and paper
• kids' scissors and construction paper
• Play-doh, cookie cutters and plastic knives
• magnet wands and magnetic bingo chips (from the dollar store)
• dried spaghetti noodles and Parmesan cheese shakers (have them poke the spaghetti through the small holes)

If any of you have other ideas, please share! I'd love to add a few more ideas to my notebook.