Discover the wonder of
What’s in my tray?
Gratnells Learning Rooms has
developed an exciting range
of activities and ideas for
children, with the “What’s in
my tray?” series of practical,
enjoyable projects taking
the humble storage tray and
making it a thing of wonder.
As providers of classroom storage
solutions to the education sector
in over 65 countries, Gratnells has
developed the Learning Rooms
concept which offers a mix of advice,
ideas and content for classrooms,
social spaces and the great outdoors,
to empower teachers and enrich the
lives of children.
Trays can be used to engage children
in activities, encouraging them to
use their imagination and absorb the
information provided by the teacher
to learn in a more diverse yet effective
way. Giving a child their own tray
when they start school is often the
first milestone in their educational
journey. As well as personal trays,
and their essential role in storing
and organising resources, Gratnells
Learning Rooms has collated an
exciting range of activities and ideas
using the humble, yet incredibly
versatile, tray.
Here are some ideas on how to
engage children in activities and
have fun at the same time:-
Making Maths fun
Maths manipulatives come in all
forms and colours and have been
used for decades to provide physical
engagement and tactile experiences
in the learning of mathematics.
Working together, Gratnells and
Edx have combined their individual
knowledge and experience to create
a set of mathematics exercises as
simple, tray-based activities, giving
children the hands-on experience
that makes maths fun.
Using colour, simple manipulatives
and play-based activities, children
are
encouraged to engage in
mathematics and have fun, whilst
taking the first step to learning
some life-long basic skills. The Edx
Education Pattern Blocks have
plenty of uses including helping
with fractions, geometry and
measurement. You can use different
shaped pattern blocks to display
fractions and explore how splitting
up the hexagon into different
sized blocks can help the children
understand fractions in a visual way.
Alphabet Sorting Trays
Arrange Gratnells trays on the floor
or table and assign each one a letter
of the alphabet. In small groups or
individually, chose a letter for each
child or group of children and allow
them to move around the room, filling
their tray with objects that start with
the letter that they’ve been given.
You may want to place some easy
to identify objects around the room
for younger groups. Once the trays
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Mar - Apr 2018
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Class Time