Child Driven Creative Play with Nature Inspired Tinker Trays

When I first heard of "Tinker Trays" a couple years back I wasn't sure I what to think. Initially the idea of all of those loose parts around the house gave me pause. Plus I wasn't sure exactly how to incorporate them into our day to day play. Well, over the last year or so I've intentionally experimented A LOT more with loose parts in my children's play space and I've come to find that they are an AMAZING invitation to explore, question, and create!

I've been passionate for quite some time now about finding ways to incorporate nature into our day to day lives. In the winter, when time outdoors is more limited, that means that we need to be even more creative about finding ways to bring nature in. Enter the Nature Inspired Tinker Tray. This is a great way to utilize all the amazing pieces and parts brought into the house during the other seasons. Instead of creating places to store all these natural treasures that made it into their pockets at one point or another, organize and set them out to be used for play.

The tray I used is an older letter press tray that I found in a local thrift shop for next to nothing. They can be found in a variety of sizes and have so many great compartments. I have been in love with these things since grad school when I began using them in my found object sculptures. But I digress....fast forward to today and I find they are awesome for DIY Tinker Trays and Nature Collection Display. But don't worry if you can't find one or it's not your thing. You can use divided plastic trays, re-purposed Mellissa and Doug boxes, or whatever other divided containers you have handy.

We Used...

Natural and Craft Materials:

- Larger Rocks

- Smaller Pebbles

- Small Shells

- Twigs

- Pinecones

- Wooden Beads

- Popsicle Sticks

- Stir Sticks

- Pipe Cleaners

- Clothes Pins

- Crayons

- Plastic Beads

- Glass Gems

- Toob Toy Animals

I put this one together last week when the temperatures around our parts were in the negatives with windchill. We weren't getting out much so everyday I found some way to take out the tray when the timing seemed right. The big thing with these trays and any invitation to play is to not force things or over plan. When something is left where they can reach it and suggestions are made, they are more prone to jump in to test out ideas then if you say, "hey, this is what we are going to do with this...right now.". : )

Child Driven Creative Play:

"Berry Trees"

This grew out of a game they were playing where they had made up a nature center from pillows and stuffed animals. I took out the tray and left it on the table as they played in the other room. When they had run out of things from the play kitchen to "feed their animals" I suggested they make some food. I then took out some of our homemade play-dough and set it out near the tray. If they threaded wooden beads onto the sticks they found they could "pick their own berries" for their animals to eat. How cute is that?

River Habitat

As with the day before, I took out the tray as they were playing and waited to see what they might do with it. This day they had decided to add a construction paper river leading up to their "nature center" so I set the tray by the "water".

The Toob Toy Animals came out right away, as did the crayons, sticks, rocks, and pebbles. The animals began interacting with the river in various ways. The bird built a pretty sweet nest and started guarding their egg. The penguins came out and suddenly we were in the arctic! Rocks laid in the the "river" made rough travels for the plastic boats. And the crayons traced the course of the water as they marked each page of the construction paper. My toddler created a mini water scene as well. Both ages, two and five, engaged at their own level. Awesome to watch it all unfold!

Magic Wands

These little creations were done by setting out a glue stick, paper, and stickers along with the Tinker Tray. We worked together as I helped them secure their creations. So much fun to see yet another use of materials. As you can see the possibilities with these trays are endless!

Drawing with Natural Objects

Seeking out connections with points on a line is we all do naturally. With my background as an Art Professor I am very in tune with the natural tendency in us all to create. As a mother of two little ones, I now get to witness this not only in the classroom setting with older students, but at a base level in day to day activities and it truly never ceases to amaze me! It's the little things that I find so beautiful. Like the way my toddler instinctively knew how to finish the shape I had laid out in part with the rocks. And the echoing of shape and dynamic movement she created after she placed a single rock on the paper. Maybe it's just my interest in the arts but the use of pebbles and rocks from our collection included in these drawings.... and I'm in love!