Seaside Themed Tuff Tray for Early Years

I love a tuff tray and we had so much fun playing with this one inspired by the seaside! This seaside themed tuff tray was really fun and easy to create, and allows for lots of sensory and imaginary play too. We haven’t managed to get away to the coast this summer, so this was a nice way to incorporate the seaside into our play.

Seaside Themed Tuff Tray Resources:

For the base:

• Blue dyed chickpeas
• Blue dyed rice
• Sand

Extras:

• Plastic sea animals
• Happyland figures
• Mini shells
• Mini bucket and spade

For the base I used sand, coloured rice and coloured chickpeas. I bought these from a lovely small business called Alfie Bear Sensory on Etsy. They create and sell sensory bases for this type of play. You can check them out here – https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AlfieBearSensory?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1512369162&from_page=listing. Of course, you can also create these at home if you wish. I find using paint or food colouring works well to dye the rice and chickpeas. You could alternatively use Kinetic Sand for the beach.

I then added some Happyland figures and shells to the beach, along with some plastic sea animals and scoops. What I love about this type of set up is that really you can use whatever resources you have available to you at home. I would also recommend websites like Twinkl, where you can print pictures of sea animals or seaside related words. They have lots of free resources and I love it as both a parent and educator. For the sea, you may also just wish to use water with blue food colouring in.

My 2 year old enjoyed scooping the rice and chickpeas and fed them to her sharks! Great for working those hand and wrist muscles, along with developing hand-eye coordination.

The little shells I bought from The Works – https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/craft-embellishments/craft-shells-pack-of-40/5052089319172.html and the mini bucket and spade from one of my favourite shops, Flying Tiger – https://flyingtiger.com/en-gb/products/beach-set-4-pcs-3055367?variant=48003559522652&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAC0qIiosrfIzmLLExSWi_XCgx1F6L&gclid=CjwKCAjwoJa2BhBPEiwA0l0ImJov3EqsT8Lj4fE-tVoaYqCdqImghh2lryNjuPCEb-UlJB1Ke1ndqxoCyZUQAvD_BwE.

How this activity supports development:

• Physical development – Helps develop fine motor skills scooping, pouring and using the pincer grasp to pick up smaller items.
  
• Understanding the world – This tuff tray represents a real life situation, going to the beach!
  
• Communication and language – This set up encourages small world and imaginative play with the use of figurines and small world animals.
  
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourages role play which allows the child to immerse themselves in situations through the use of fictional characters. If playing with other children it’s a great opportunity for sharing and collaborating.

It’s important to remember to keep this kind of activity simple and to use what resources you may have around the home. If you liked this idea, you may also like to try an ice-cream sensory tray – https://theeducatormum.co.uk/how-to-set-up-an-ice-cream-sensory-play-tray/ I would love to see your seaside inspired play ideas!