What's On The Trays?- Post 6

D is 33 months

S is 13 months

In addition to doing Tot School with Dude we also do Tot Trays as inspired by Carisa over at 1+1+1=1.

On our trays for this week we had:

1. A variety of boxes, bags & things to open and close with interesting trinkets inside each

2. 2 unopened canned goods with colored paper taped over the labels, rubber bands to match

3. A box with holes punched in it (I used a sharpened pencil to make mine.), wooden dowels, Lacing Beads

4. Pom-poms, tweezers, & an ice cube tray

5. Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks

6. Fabric Leaves, Spill Proof Paint Cups (You could cut a hole in the top of any container if you don't have these, although they are totally worth the price, in my opinion, if you do much painting with tots.)

Some action shots:

Tweezing pom-poms. Dude didn't have any trouble with this.

Ok, I'll admit I figured Dude might not be ready for this one, but I do like to challenge him as long as I can keep it a positive experience. I don't want to frustrate him, but I love it when I'm able to show him that with a little persistence he CAN do a task that he initially thought he couldn't. That was the case here. When I first let him try to put the rubber bands onto the cans he couldn't. So I modeled it a couple times by spreading the rubber band out with the fingers of both hands, placing the bottom part of the rubber band around one edge of the can, and then using my thumbs to stretch the remaining side over. After watching me and trying a bit more, he got it figured it! He was SO proud of himself!

(If Dude had not been able to do this, my plan was to help just a little by placing the rubber band under my finger on one edge of the can and letting him use both hands to stretch it over the can that way. That way he would have still been able to feel that sense of accomplishment.)

Dude enjoyed his Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks . He doesn't like it when pieces move around so I went with this set over the other M&D set. In the second picture he was explaining to me how you put 2 triangles together to make a square :)

   

Spudder had a turn with the leaves and Spill Proof Paint Cups . He had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get the leaves into the cups since he had to use his fingers, but he did manage to get a few in. Apparently he was proud because he then clapped for himself. So CUTE!! He also enjoyed just playing with the leaves on the tray. It made for a slick combination.

   

Dude also played with this tray. He was super excited to get this tray down so I thought he might be up for the extra task of taking the lids off the cups. This definitely wasn't easy for him, but with some maneuvering and putting the cup between his legs he managed.. He also got some practice screwing and unscrewing the lids. I kept this interesting for him by calling out patterns and asking him to put in the leaf that came next. 

   

Spudder loved the dowels and box! He worked pretty hard to get those sticks into the holes. I loved watching his determination with this one.

   

I just let Dude explore this one freely. I expected him to put the sticks in the box and the beads on the sticks, but as you can see he went a different way with it.

Dude also really enjoyed his open and close tray. I tried to put little things inside of them that I knew would fascinate him. I came up with a barrette, necklace charms, a couple different bracelets & a small bottle. And yes he does bed head very well ;)

    

Spudder also got his hands on this tray. I left most of the items unzipped or unlatched so that he could discover the "treasures" inside. Of course almost everything went straight into his mouth and had to be confiscated, but he didn't seem to mind too much. His favorite was definitely the wooden box, which he opened & closed, and opened & closed, etc. He also just liked shaking the boxes that made noise. 

It was another fun week in the land of tot trays!

 I'm linking this post up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1, Tot Tuesdays at My Delicious Ambiguity, & Box Ideas Tuesdays.