57 EYFS Tuff Tray Ideas

I love our tuff tray, (probably even more than the children do), and thinking up tuff tray ideas - and although it can be a challenge to set them up sometimes - I love the wow factor a new tray play activity brings to young children and how excited and enthusiastic they are to go and explore straight away! I know that my carefully laid resources will be scattered around within minutes, but honestly, that's the beauty of it. A well played with EYFS tuff tray, where learning opportunities arise, does not come from children feeling like they can't touch, move, reorder or explore. A day without some 'mess' has usually been an unproductive one...

 I've picked out 57 tuff tray ideas (originally 19 but I keep updating!) of our current favourite EYFS tuff tray ideas here for you to enjoy and feel inspired! I also have a post showcasing our best sensory tray play ideas here.  If you want to learn more about tuff trays first - have a read of our complete guide to tuff trays here. 

You can find many of the resources mentioned over in my Amazon affiliate ideas list here (click here for USA version).

Complete guide to tuff trays

Are you wondering what a Tuff Tray is? Perhaps you can't understand what all the hype is about - do you REALLY need a tuff tray? Are they any alternatives to having a Tuff Tray? Will a tuff tray fit inside your space? Perhaps you have purchased one and now you don't know what to do with it, and need some help and advice on tuff tray set ups? 

 

Fear not, we have you covered! This post will tell you everything you need to know about tuff trays and will sign post you to some fab tuff tray play ideas too!

Dinosaur Hunt Ideas

We’re going on a dinosaur hunt, we’re going to catch a big/tall/fierce/strong/scaly/baby one…do you have a Dino fan on your hands? If so, you are going to love this post all about different ideas for dinosaur play, Dino activities and how to set up and create your own dinosaur hunt! (Including a free printable!)

 

Disclosure: Partnership with Wicked Uncle

 But first, get those ideas flowing and the inspiration cogs turning by clicking this link here: Dinosaur toys and play items - you will need this info a little bit later on if you’d like to enter to win a very special dinosaur giveaway!

'The Snowman' Tuff tray ideas and activities

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...oh yes! It's that time of year again folks, and based on the fact we have already been watching The Snowman on DVD and reading The Snowman by Raymond Briggs since November, I have been busy putting together 'The Snowman' Tuff tray and activity ideas for you - including a link to a blog post and video of how to make your own Snowman squeezy-oobleck sensory ball!

You'll have probably noticed by now that I love a good Tuff Tray Activity, and whereas I usually resort to posting them straight to my Instagram page, this time I shall provide you with  a little bit more information! Carry on reading below for information on how to put together this fab, snowman melting tuff tray activity...

Sensory Tray Play Ideas

Are you looking for ideas and activities for your tray play, tuff tray and sensory play? This blog post links to LOTS of sensory tray play activities for you to try. Simply scroll down, find the activity you like and click on the link to go to the full blog post with all of the information and resources needed.  Have a read of our complete guide to tuff trays if you need some more info first!

Valentine's Day Tuff Tray | Sensory Play | Playdough Recipe

Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, this sensory tuff tray is sure to provoke some language and discussions around love and kindness whilst offering lots of learning opportunities in a very child-led and open ended exploration...

This sensory play opportunity actually starts before the tuff tray activity, in making the Valentine's Day playdough together with your child/children! This post explains and demonstrates how to make this together, and then moves on to the resources and the learning opportunities this provides....

Dinosaur Island Play Tray | Tuff Spot Ideas

Does your child have a special interest in Dinosaurs? Perhaps you are learning about a dinosaur topic or how dinosaurs have become extinct and would like to create a tuff tray play tray to enhance your learning environment and allow for open ended play and exploration? 

In this post I have a large dinosaur island tuff tray with lots of loose parts, and an alternative smaller scale play tray with dinosaurs past and also dinosaurs present with a special fossil hunting activity!!

The beauty of loose parts is that children can move and explore all of the objects to create their own scenes, ideas and narratives. Nothing is permanent, so nothing gets ‘ruined’, nothing has to be ‘put back how you found it’ and nothing is ‘wrong’. When there are no limits set on play, children have the chance to take ownership without fear of failure, or, fear of creating too much mess to clean up. Your set up doesn’t have to be perfect (it won’t stay as it is for long anyway), it just needs to be inspiring, interesting, exciting and provoke a sense of wonder - inviting children to come and have a look, a touch and eventually a full on play!

Coffee Beans Sensory Play Tray | Tuff Tray ideas

A sensory tuff tray exploring coffee beans using a manual coffee grinder, old coffee machine, cafetiere and some information on how we extended the coffee beans activity once they had all been ground up!

Disclosure - this post includes collaborative and affiliate links

A few weeks prior to this coffee beans sensory play tray activity, I had picked up a manual coffee grinder in a charity shop and ‘left it’ in the playroom for the children to discover and try to figure out what it was and what it could do... The children loves exploring and experimenting, and here is what we got up to when we finally got round to using it for real!

How to make Needle Felted Number Hearts for Loose Parts

Needle felted loose parts are a lovely tactile resource for children to use within their play. These rainbow felted hearts with numbers 1-10 are great when used alongside numicon and other natural resources and loose parts on a play tray - adding in another sensory element with different textures and weights. They are SO easy to make, simultaneously calming and stress busting as you focus on producing something achievable with a repetitive stabbing movement to get rid of any internal angst!

This blog post will give you some step by step images and instructions for how to make your own needle felted hearts, as well as an accompanying video to demonstrate and a list of resources you will need in order to make your own felt hearts with numbers...

60+ Play Ideas for when you're stuck at home

Whether you're stuck at home due to a rainy day, feeling under the weather yourself or having to self-isolate due to a global pandemic (Corona Virus COVID-19 I'm looking at you!), you'll probably find that cabin fever sets in pretty quickly without some quick and easy play activities to keep your little ones entertained!

Most of these play at home, indoor activities are super simple to set up, and utilise resources that you will likely have at home anyway. Just in case you don't, I'll include some relevant links to order online for home delivery. (Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small amount of commission on qualifying purchases, but it wont cost you any more to buy them).

Ikea Flisat Table | Skadis Pegboard | Desk Hack

Are you looking for some inspiration for the Ikea Flisat desk? Perhaps you would like to use this for smaller Tuff Tray activities, or maybe, you would like to combine the table with the Ikea Skadis pegboard, but are unsure of how to do this and which resources you need?

This post will tell you everything you need to know about the Ikea Flisat table / Skadis Pegboard desk hack...

(NB: Some of the links in this article are amazon affiliate links - it wont cost you anymore, but I may make commission on qualifying purchases.)

We have this IKEA Flisat table and Skadis pegboard in our Child-Led playroom at home, set up specifically for independent learning through play. This hack does not involve fastening the table to the wall and so this can be moved around the room easily...

Gratnells Iconic Tray Challenge – Learning Rooms Play Activities

We have been busy setting up some tuff tray challenges on a smaller scale, using the iconic tray from Gratnells and taking inspiration from the Gratnells Learning Rooms project and What's in my Tray.

  

***Ad: We were gifted the iconic Gratnells trays in order to put together these activities, and compensated for our time*** 

The smaller Gratnells Trays fit perfectly into our Ikea Kallax shelving unit within our open plan, child-led playroom environment – allowing for a colour co-ordinated ‘iconic school tray’ challenge activity, by choice. The trays can be easily removed in order to access each individual activity, and then placed on the floor, table top or on a larger tuff spot tray. Similarly, the larger Gratnells trays can be placed on top of a stool, cable reel or an old tyre to create a tuff tray table at child height.

I have put together four moveable, learning through play challenges using the smaller, rainbow coloured Gratnells trays, and a further challenge using two of the larger Gratnells trays which you can see below...

How to set up a Life cycle of a Frog Tuff Tray Pond

We have recently been learning all about frogs and tadpoles during a visit to my Nanna's house, so we decided to set up a life cycle of a frog tuff tray pond, including a quick video...

We were previously gifted a packet of the green 'slime baff' which we used for this activity (half a pack) to create the swampy, slimy pond. Have a read of what else we did to create this sensory, slimy, frog pond tuff tray....

Honey Bees tuff tray activities - learning through play

Spring is (almost) in the air, we've seen our first buzzy little friend roaming the emerging flower beds and bees still really need our help to thrive - so what better way to teach the next generation all about the importance of bees than a Bees Tuff Tray Activity!

 

It started out with the purchase of a pack of 'bee pollen' from a local supermarket - I was intrigued to learn more about it and I wanted Arthur and Charlotte to join in with a real hands on 'learning through play' approach. I sourced a number of resources which you can find over in the 'bees activity' section of my Amazon store here  (USA followers click here for my US list) and got to work planning some activities:

EYFS activities using rainbow test tubes and pipette droppers

A few EYFS child development activity ideas using plastic rainbow test tubes in a stand and pipette droppers...

If you follow my social channels then you’ll know that I regularly post quick activity updates and ideas of things to do with young children which don’t often make it into a full blow blog post on here. After sharing my link to my Amazon store (USA store here)which show cases some of my favourite tried and tested activity products, one of my followers asked me how I use the pipettes from the store. Below I have pulled together and embedded some of my past Facebook activity posts using the resources. Facebook is notorious for not showing all posts to all followers unless you check my page regularly so you may have missed some of these along the way...

Sensory Fairy Mark Making Tray

This little sensory fairy mark making activity was cobbled together using a few bits and pieces we already had at home, during one of those moments where we really needed to find something new and interesting to do on a freezing snowy day in the Easter hols!

The dry cornflower has the added benefit of acting a little bit like snow when pressed together and I think Arthur thought I’d been outside to collect some at first!

Naturally, this activity took its own turn and swiftly moved on from a sensory mark making tray to a builder’s tray. After watching a man lay the screed and floor in our extension, Arthur pretended that the cornflour was the cement and rolled it out onto the tray ‘floor’ and filled in the gaps using a spoon. He used the lollipop stick as a floorboard.


To set this activity up, you will need: