Construction Play Tray

“Dig” right into this construction play tray!

Did you catch what I did right there?? This simple construction play tray is sure to delight any young truck enthusiast. The sensory element adds fun and engagement to the open ended play. Young workers will build, mold, dig, stack, scoop and create with the elements included.

Using our sand dough as inspiration, we created a construction small world play. The color of our sand dough reminded us of rocks so it was the perfect base. Be sure to check out our post on sand dough for all the details to make your own.

Materials We Used:

• sand dough

• black beans

• wood slices

• construction vehicles

The older kids helped to create this tray by flattening the sand dough on the bottom of the tray and creating rocks and boulders by rolling pieces of the dough. Next, we added black beans, wood slices and various construction vehicles we had on hand.

Since it was a nice day, we took the tray outside. All of them visited this play throughout the afternoon and were engaged with the materials (ages 2-9). Random pieces of mulch, rocks and leaves were added to the tray and the play extended to our flower bed.

One of my favorite things about play trays are the endless possibilities for creativity. Given the freedom to do so, kids will interact with materials in unexpected ways. The sand dough served multiple purposes in our case. It was used to make tracks, dig up with the excavator, molded for different elements and sandwiched between wood slices to serve as cement.

Do you have any truck enthusiasts in your life?

Be sure to save this post to refer back to easily.