My Love for All Things Tuff Tray - Why I Recommend this Toy and Play Ideas

My children tend to get lots of chocolate from all their lovely relatives for Easter (especially if we are at my parent’s house for Easter Sunday - Grandma’s Easter Bunny gets very carried away) so my husband & I tend to get them a very small egg plus a gift. Last Easter we got them a tuff tray and a big pack of water beads to use with it. 

I was a bit unsure whether I’d left it too late buying it for a 4 and 7 year old but as we have a very small backyard which is dominated by a trampoline I thought it would add a new dimension to garden play, plus they both still love water and sand play. 

A year on and they have more than got their money’s worth, it is one of the most used items they own. They get really excited when I set something up for them but equally they used it loads the first few weeks when it was just filled with sand in the garden. We use it both inside and outside, it’s really easy to clean down to bring inside and it just lives leaning against the garden wall so doesn’t take up loads of room.

I would whole-heartedly recommend getting one of these trays and there are plenty of options to suit space and budget, you don’t have to buy the official tuff tray if it’s too big, places like Ikea or DIY stores often have trays that work just as well. I only bought the tray and the kids use it on the floor or a table but if you have toddlers I would recommend buying the stand too - it makes it a great height for little ones plus I have seen other people covering them with blankets and using them as dens which is another fab way to utilise them.

I will post new ideas to this page when we have any successful trays that are worth sharing but don’t feel like you have to be particularly creative or have loads of resources or time to set up different trays, you can just use them for a sand or water table. When I organised a birthday party for my friend’s daughter, I brought my tray along and we stuck loads of play-doh and tools in it, they spent ages playing with it and it kept it confined rather than all over the floor! 

Another popular tray was also one of my simplest - I had a gathering at my house for a mummy friend's birthday and set up a toy tea-set in the tuff tray with a big tub of water beads. The children played so nicely together pouring and scooping the water beads in the garden, the mums couldn’t believe how long it kept them entertained. Water beads are such a lovely sensory toy to play with, although make sure you use them somewhere where escapees are easy to scoop up, they are slippery little suckers! The same beads can be used over and over again and my children never seem to bore of them.

Click on the following posts to see some other trays that my children have enjoyed!