I know some people have mentioned that they use Tot Trays (Silversabre...I think you said something about them one time?). Can you talk to me about how you use them? Are they out for free play time and the children can go use it during that time? Do you do have a special time where everyone plays with them? How do you introduce them to the children? Like, when you change up the trays, do you introduce them to the children, talk about how they are supposed to use them, etc?

I like these a lot and am trying to figure out how I can incorporate them into the preschool. I'm thinking of maybe making up some that are directed toward particular children and their needs (like, I have some older kiddos very interested in learning their letters and how to write them and other kids still learning their colors...).

Any info people can give me on them would be great.

Here's a link to a website about them, for anyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about:
http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/TraysforTots.html

Thanks!

btw, I LOVE that we have a curriculum space on this forum!

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At first I thought you were talking about lunch trays...

So these are basically just table top activities but made newer/cooler??

At least at my house they are called "Table Top Manipulative's" . I do this kind of stuff everyday while I mop or when I have to redirect/tone down the energy level for fear of injuries.... When the natives go wild....

I am not trying to be argumentative...please don't take it that way. I am trying to uderstand...

I am thinking there may simply be some "buzz word" issues to this new "must have Curriculum" approach that older providers like me are so opposed to having forced on us...YKWIM? I visualize little mutant two year olds dressed in grey sitting in a school desk...Well, maybe not that bad...but you see where I am going...

I have had a daycare garden since back in the early 90's, we get to pick/wash/eat our own grapes and berries, I do letter/number hopscotch, munchy math, I read every day, I do old fashioned flash cards, I have structured P.E....but I never had to join an expensive association to do it...All this am I am considered to not have "Curriculum"....

I want free spirits....childhood is gone so fast anyway Does that make sense?

So for the trays, Is it really suggested to let them have these out, open, all the time, now? If so, why??? I ask because in my house they wont play with the things that are out all the time... .... these will be tossed and "cleaned up" into the toy boxes so fast your head will spin.

If I don't constantly rotate things (little toys mid-day, big toys on Fridays) and magically pull something new out often, they mentally shut down and stop playing independently... The fights start and bad behavior becomes rampant....

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i use the same "theory" as the tot trays, i just don't call them that. here, they are still called table top toys. they have their own area, which is a shelf next to a small table. they are available to use all day.

i do rotate them frequently, to keep the kids interest.

if it is something new, i do introduce it, the proper way to use it, and how to clean it up. everything has a place, and the kids know how to put it away in the right spot.

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Mel, does this work for 2 and unders, though....

Leaving them out, I mean..

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same here I thought lunch tray, which i just bought some and love..

but i saw the site you posted and I love that idea. We do most of those things but it is not as organized as shown on the site..... gonna have to try that idea.. thanks for sharing

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From my limited understanding, yes, they are similar to table toys, but may focus on a particular 'skill'. For example, you may have a tray that has a few cotton balls, tweezers to pick them up, and small cups or a muffin tin to place the cotton balls in. This helps with fine motor, coordination, etc.

I don't see it as being too directed or anything at all (I think that's maybe what you were getting at, correct me if I'm wrong...). It's still very play based. They are just regular ole materials that go on a tray, of course, but right now, I can tell you that if I put a basket of cotton balls, tweezers and muffin tins on my shelf, I'd end up with cotton balls all over the floor and kiddos with tweezer pinch marks all over their skin. So, using tot trays (or whatever you want to call them) is just a way for adults to think about how to set up their environment so that the children can be successful, have fun and continue to gain new skills. It also helps the children to stay focused and help them gain in impulse control as they will know that they can play with what's on the tray for however long they want and they need to clean it up and put the tray back on the shelf when they are finished.

Also, keep in mind that my program is a preschool, so by the time they go into kindergarten, there is now a laundry list of things that they have to be doing. And, whether I agree with that or not, it is what it is.

I do employ a huge range of strategies to help children along in their skills, all of them are play-based and almost all of them are introduced when they are interested in learning about a certain topic. I never force children to do things a certain way and I don't do any worksheets or coloring pages, etc etc. So, because I don't do worksheets and such, it's very important to find strategies that children can use playfully and pick up on those skills.

I do almost everything that you said that you do...with the garden and all that (although I don't do flashcards). I don't have any preset curriculum as I design my own (which sounds like exactly what you do and what you could be advertising to parents, I've found that my parents love that I design my own because I think that's what's most appropriate for children). All the parents know that my program is completely play-based. I wouldn't pay for Tot Trays (can you even buy them.?...). Obviously, I would just put things on trays that will be playful and help the kiddos enhance their skills .

What you are doing is curriculum and I hope that you are advertising that to parents.

On whether it's suggested that you have them out all the time, I think the idea is that you rotate what's on them to keep their interest, just like with any other material... When I asked whether people leave them out all the time, I meant, are they left out during free play or is it something that you bring out as a special activity. Does that make sense?

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I LOVE having this kind of discussion, as it helps me to think about what I'm doing and also helps me to be articulate about what I do and why I do it, which goes a LONG way when I'm talking with parents.

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Thank you for that, Kendallina.....

I am in a free pre-school state... so the only way I am allowed to advertise "Curriculum" is to have a CDA and belong to that particular association... (or a TCC in infant/toddler only, but they have been discontinued at the trade schools nearby, I would have to drive 4 hours each night to attend classes) I have to say "intellectually stimulating activities" or "independent play based learning"....

Truthfully, I just can't afford it.. The up front $1500, the monitoring fees, the testing fees, the re-cert fees.. We just got a new $50 fee just to get our new registration certificates along with the original background check and application fees... My mandatory training was already a couple hundred out of pocket for lousy 10 hours just since January... This after I already have a degree in healthcare...

If I could find a state approved online course for that TCC, I'd take it in a heartbeat, but they won't approve any. They seem to want to be the gatekeepers of childcare...

All new home providers have to have this if they intend to keep more than 2 kids for pay, now. I am "grandfathered" in, like they are doing me a favor, so if I make one slip....I am out of work. Just a miserable teether totter feeling, YKWIM?

I love seeing the little light bulbs go off in kids eyes as much as the next provider... I just think somewhere along the line actual CARE got lost in regulated childcare

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quite honestly.....no.

but for my set up, i have a seperate area for 2 and under to play, so it works for me.

i have one, currently, who is 18 months, and he is actually doing OK with it. he will play with something on the table-toy shelf for awhile, but his attention span , as you can imagine, isn't very long. if i leave him there unattended, he will rip the shelf apart. so he is only allowed to play there when i am right with him. same for the art area.

when he is in the mood to seek and destroy, i let him.....in HIS area

but other then that, the 2 1/2 yr olds i have do very well with playing and picking up. it takes ALOT of modeling at first, but after awhile, they get it.

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cute site. I would need something like small boxes with lids (limited space) but I'm acually heading that way. Since I started switching things up, the kids are responding better. I had a mom notice a difference in her sons work (coloring and cutting) the other day, I have an art cupboard that the kids are allowed and they love it so much (someone posted about this and its so awesome) I don't do anymore boxed cirriculum because it was expensive, but doing more hands on stuff, does that make sense. Oh and we are doing our gardening stuff this spring when the darn snow melts.

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i don't actually use them, unfortunately, but I am the one that posted the site.

I really, really, REALLY want to head that direction. I'm working on it...slowly. Finding the materials, setting it up, and then training my group to use the materials properly will take time, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

I think in a group setting like ours all are (meaning, not just a mom homeschooling her tot), you have to play around with it and find what works best for you and your set-up, your group, and your schedule. If it doesn't work to have the trays out all the time, you could have them in a cabinet that has doors you can lock/latch shut when you don't want the trays to be an option.

If you introduce them just two or three at a time--show the kids what they're for, then position yourself near the activity so you are right there to help orchestrate it--one child at a time, how to do it, cleaning it up after and putting it away. It will take time I think to switch a program over to this style of activity, but worthwhile in the end.

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I just bought 2 sets of these



To organize our art area with and to make mini sensory bins/tot tray activities with.

I want to have labels with pictures, but just got the bins in last night and wanted a few out this morning. So far they are a hit. Hope they continue to be

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I just use cookie trays from the dollar store. We use magnetic letters,numbers on them. Beading activities, shapes, pom poms, doppers, art, painting, etc.

I have followed her site for awhile and use it quite often! The actual trays are cute but I like the cookie ones from the dollar tree because of the cost-.

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