Teaching Tray Tuesday

This used to be a weekly feature on our blog and its been a long time since I've added a new post, but we actually did some this past week and have added a few new ones to share. For those of you new to our blog, teaching trays are montessori-inspired activities contained on trays for the kids to explore independently (after initial instructions). I added them to our homeschooling to give the kids new activities to try, to allow them to practice new skills (measuring, pouring, sorting, etc), and to provide prepared activities for Julia to choose from while I'm working with Carter. I usually put out 6 trays at a time for them to choose from. Feel free to go back in the archives if you want to know more. They are cheap, easy, and lots of fun.

These mini erasers came from Oriental Trading and are an assortment of animals and insects. The kids sort them by color, type, similarities, etc.

This one has four colors of mini flowers and mini-flower pots. Sorting with chopsticks works on fine motor skills, too.

These shells are a favorite of the kids just to explore. We wanted to work on math. Julia uses the cards at the top to place the correct number on the card. Carter uses the addition cards at the bottom to place the correct sum on each card.

This tray has been fun and inspired by the time we've been spending in the yard. We've been making a collection of different types of flowers for the kids to explore, dissect, sort, magnify, compare, contrast, and discover.