1 - TRIM THE TREE 🌲
Nothing but imagination and loose parts for this activity! Oh, and some light green and gold rice!
Draw out a tree outline with chalk paint!
Fill the tree with any kind of filler! We chose gold and green-tinted rice, and corks for the truee trunk. You can also have your kiddos fill the tree using brushes or fingers!
Set out a variety of loose parts: bells, pompoms, buttons, straws, feathers, ribbons and beads.
Use your imagination and decorate the tree in any way imaginable!
2 - NORTH POLE ARCTIC TRAIN 🚂
Wooden train fun complete with Santa’s Workshop, domino gifts to deliver, arctic animals and some salty snow!
Set up a track design of your choice!
Make a Santa workshop out of blocks!
Decorate your space with trees, arctic animals, igloos, or painted aquarium fixtures!
Sprinkle salt on the surface as "snow"!
3 - OUTER SPACE 🪐
Get ready to blast into space with this one!
Pack down a patch of kinetic sand in one corner of the tray. Add colored pebbles throughout.
Sprinkle black beans throughout the tray! (Or any filler!!)
Accessorize with planet squishy balls, wooden stars, and bunch ‘ems for decoration and exploration!
Set a purpose! Scatter loose building parts for explorers to build rocket ships! Some loose parts could include: magnatiles, color screen blocks, bristle blocks, duplos.
Of course throw in an astronaut or two!
4 - CONSTRUCTION ZONE 🧱🚜🔨
Gear up for some building, lifting, scooping and pouring !
This activity was intentionally segmented into 4 corners to fit 4 little boys for minimal arguing 😂 (Wishful thinking!!)
Fill all four corners with your materials for play: kinetic sand, brown paper grass, wooden loose parts, quick or old-fashioned oats, and corks!
Use blocks to make a road and divider between sections.
Gather scoops, bowls, and construction vehicles for a fun time!
5 - EXPLORE THE ZOO 🦁🐯🐻🐨
There are so many components to this one, mainly because I really just couldn’t help myself!
Fill up your tray with multiple fillers for each animal enclosure! We used, chickpeas, macaroni noodles, glass gems, blue plastic straws (cut up), and white and blue pebbles.
Add in some animal fencing and zoo animals!
Accessorize with pencil holder “cages”, wooden peg people and any other items you have to make your zoo come to life!
6 - WATER PLAY 💧🌈
What’s more fun than water?! This activity can be done either inside or outside! If inside, place tray on a sheet or garbage bag to collect excess water!
Draw chalk designs on the tray. Set out textured paintbrushes for kids to use to erase the designs.
Set out aquarium gems, underwater pieces, water suction toys, acrylic arches, lots of pouring items and small spray bottles for added fun and fine muscle strengthening!
7 - DINOSAUR DIG LAB
Let’s have some Dino Fun! We had spent the morning at the dinosaur museum and came home to create our own version!
Gather props or tools needed to create a dinosaur science lab. Think glasses, notebooks, writing utensils, measuring materials, pretend play office supplies, etc. Prepare these on a separate table.
On tray, hide Dino fossilshttps://amzn.to/4hjjafI in a filler of your choice! Here we used sesame seeds, split peas and mini pasta stars.
Add in magnifying glasses or brushes to brush away the filler while searching for bones.
Encourage kiddos to search for bones or fossils and then experiment with them back in their lab (drawing, tracing, measuring, attaching together, etc).
8 - COLORFUL EMOTIONS 👀
Engage your feelings with this activity!
Use dyed salt to sprinkle your tray with different colors!
Add in emotion flashcards, a black stick man, wooden peg emotion people, and lots of loose parts (googly eyes, pompoms, buttons, straws, feathers, ribbons and beads)
Encourage your kids to make faces to match their emotions, the emotions on the cards or give them a scenario and have them make an emotion face to match it (this is a bit more challenging).
9 - MINECRAFT 🧱🧟♂️
Anyone else have Minecraft- obsessed kiddos?! Turn off the video games and bring the game to the kids!
Fill your tray with different “biomes” filler! We use different colored rice.
Fill tray with magnetic Minecraft blocks to build with and some mini gold pieces, and mini cinder blocks.
Add in Minecraft figurines!
Optional: create a scavenger hunt for the kids to find inventory items!
10 - FIZZY POTION PLAY 🧪🥣✨
Chemical Reaction FUN! Everyone gets a special spot to experiment with this activity!
Set tray on the floor on top of a sheet or garbage bags for excess mess!
Set up different spaces on your tray with baking soda, colorful mini cups of vinegar, sequins, slime add-ins (little multi-colored balls), and an assortment of tools for mixing and pouring!
Encourage kiddos to pour vinegar slowly
and watch the chemical reactions for making puffy potions!
Experiment with different tools, like spray bottles, medicine syringes, and pipettes!
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