The All in One Tot Tray Post

I wanted an easy way to reference all the trays I have created for Charger. I hope you find it helpful, too. I also created an all in one Preschool Tray post here. This post will be updated often.

Glass Beads on a Stick

Materials:
*Glass beads, one side should be flat {Dollar Tree}
*Popcycle sticks {Dollar Tree}
*It is optional for the beads and sticks to match in color
I found this great idea on The Adventures of Bear



Sour Cream and Clothes-Pins

Materials: *Recycled sour cream container
*clothes pins

The object of this tray is to have your child clip the all the clothes pins around the edge of the sour cream container. It teaches hand eye coordination, balance, and strengthens fingers to eventually hold a pencil.




Foam Shape Flashcard Match
Materials: *A set of shape flashcards {ours came from the Dollar Tree}
*Foam shapes {I borrowed ours from our Playful Patterns toy, but you
could make them}

Have your child match the foams to the flashcards. Include the amount of cards, shapes, and colors that you feel your child is comfortable with.




Lacing Beads

Materials needed: Wooden beads & shoe laces. I found ours at the Dollar Tree.

There isnt a wrong way to play with these. Let your child have fun threading them. It can be expanded to include pattern strips.



Lacing Beads on a Pipe Cleaner

Materials Needed:
*Pipe Cleaners
*Beads

Same idea as the above tray, but for more coordinated fingers.



Rock Sorting

Materials Needed:
*At least 2 colors of rocks {I purchased mine in a bag from the Dollar Tree}
*Two trays to sort onto {I purchased my shelves from the Dollar Tree, the slots allow for 1:1 learning as well as sorting}
*Labels for each pile
*Magnifying glass-optional but so much fun {again, purchased at the Dollar Tree in the party favor area}

Present the tray with the rocks combined in a bowl or other container. Designate where the rocks should be sorted to and in by what, in our case we sorted black and white. Work could be checked because there was one slot for each rock.



Alphabet Poster Matching

Materials needed:
*An alphabet poster {I found mine at the Dollar Tree}
*A set of alphabet letters {again Dollar Tree, you may see a trend}
*3 wooden shelves, or other dividing tray {not necessary, but they allow the second set of letters to be placed in order for beginning tots. Again from the Dollar Tree.}

Child matches movable letters to the letter on the poster. Ask your child the name or sound of the letter as they place it.



Parmesan Pipe Cleaner Tree

This was a variation of a post I found on My Montessori Journey

Materials needed:
*Parmesean cheese container {Dollar Tree}
*Pipe Cleaners
*Beads

For this, the child threads pipe cleaners through the holes on the parmesean container. Then, the child adds beads to the pipe cleaners. This is a good holiday/seasonal type tray since the colors of pipe cleaners and beads can be changed out to go along with the holiday.



Transfer games with 1:1 ratio

Materials Needed:
*Tray with multiple openings {ice tray, candy mold, egg carton)
*Tranfer tool {spoon, tongs, melon baller}
*Medium to transfer-one for each opening {glass gems, pom poms, beads}

Child uses transfer tool to move the medium place one in each opening. There should only be enough for one each. Teaches hand eye coordination and 1:1 coorespondence. Another great seasonal tray. You will see many variations of it here.

Our Transfer trays:

Transfering gems with a melon baller into a heart candy mold.



Transfering pom poms with a spoon into a pumpkin candy mold.



Tractor Coverall

Materials Needed:
*Tractor game card. I made this by cutting apart a tractor magazine, gluing the tractors to a piece of card stock and laminating.
*Glass Gems {Dollar Tree}

Child places one gem on each of the tractors 1:1 coorespondence.



Hammer Tyme

Materials needed:
*Golf Tees
*Hammer {plastic recommended}
*Piece of styrofoam

Let your child gain handyman skills by hammering the golf tees into the styrofoam. For younger kids, make holes ahead of time for your child to use.



Color Sorting

Materials Needed:
*Objects in 2 or more colors {stickers, foam cut outs, erasers, shapes}
*Two or more containers for the sort.

Some of our sorting trays:

Rabbit sort



Fish Sort



Pom Pom Sort