Sea Animal Tinker Tray
We are big fans of tinker trays and enjoy the never-ending opportunities they provide. I thought a tinker tray would be a great way to explore our new sea animal resources. BONUS- you can download a copy of these resources for FREE here!
Tinker Trays:
Have you seen our post all about tinker trays yet? Be sure to check out all those details here. There are so many benefits and variations.
Materials:
The beauty of tinker trays is that you can use any materials you want! You also have flexibility on how you set them up. We had this wooden box on hand that we typically use to display our nature finds. We just repurposed it for this tinker tray. For this set up we used the following materials:
Shells
Starfish (decorative)
Sea Animal Resources (from Play Beyond the Lines Etsy- or a free copy here)
Playdough- Whimsical Dough
Stampers
Playdough Rollers
Wooden Cutting Boards (we have these designated for playdough play)
To Play:
My favorite part of tinker trays- there is no right or wrong play (within safety limits). Also, the adults don’t have to guide the play. The materials are provided, limits are set (for safety or to limit within a specific area), and the rest is up to the child. This particular tinker tray has been revisited many times by all three of our kids (ages 2, 7 and 9). Play has taken the form of rolling and stamping, creating seascapes, making sea themed “cookies”, making patterns and other various structures. This has been the perfect play to sit back and observe but it will also buy you some time to cook dinner or fold a load of laundry while they are fully engaged.
