ForestTots Sensory Play is a wonderful way to support your tot's development, and incorporating nature adds an extra layer of excitement and education!
Tuff Trays are perfect for containing the mess, creating an immersive environment and captivating young minds. We have collated 5 of our tried and tested nature-inspired tuff tray ideas that your toddler will love!
Forest Floor!
You'll need:
-Pretend Mud / Mud Dough (or real mud, if your feeling brave!)
-Pine cones, stones, leaves, or twigs
-Toy animals, trees, toadstools (raid your tot's toy box!)
-Any wooden huts and hidey holes.
Pop all these into the tuff tray and create a little woodland world for your tot to explore. Encourage them to use the toy animals to create stories and interactions, fostering bothe imaginative play and fine motor skills!
2. Fish & Sea!
You'll need:
-Pretend Sand (Rice Crispie Cereal crushed up), real sand OR ForestTots Sand Sensory rice.
-Shells / Pebbles
-Sea creature toys
-Herbs (Dill is good as it looks like seaweed!)
Pop all these together on a blue tuff tray (or any colour with a blue base inlay) and create your beach scene for your tot to explore! Scatter the seaweed around the outside - use this as a little hidey-hole for sea creatures. Scoops, spoons or little brushes could also be used to enhance fine motor skills.
3. Mini Garden!
You'll need:
-Black rice or pretend mud
-Mini Wooden Scoop
-Small toy plants/ flowers/ wooden veg
-Little plant pots
A firm favourite! Let your tot get planting, when they use their little scoop to pour rice/mud into the pots, they are enhancing their fine motor skills.
4. Pond Life!
You'll need:
-Pond Life toys, frogs, dragonflies, tadpoles.
-Plastic lilypads
-Herbs
-Some water
If it's hot, you might want to get outside and do some water play. A great idea that is hugely popular at our sessions is Pond Life, as it teaches them the life cycle of a frog. Also: They get to splash about!!
5. Bugs & Mud!
You'll need:
-Pretend Mud/ Mud Dough/ Black Rice
-Lots of toy insects
-Lots of hidey-holes
-Toddler-safe tweezers
Create your mud landscape with all the hidey-holes, hide the bugs and set your tot free! They will love hunting for the bugs. It's like low-energy hide and seek.
Nature-inspired tuff tray activities are a fantastic way to engage toddlers in sensory and imaginative play. All of these provide a rich environment for exploration, fostering development in fine motor skills, creativity, role play all while appreciating and understanding the natural world.
Try these activities on your next play date! Don't forget to tag us in your pics, we love to see them!
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