Turtle Life Cycle Small World Play Tray

This sea turtle small world is a great hands on way to teach turtle life cycles to young children and is also a fun sensory experience exploring the texture and feel of sand and water. It's a fun way to explore science either in the classroom, or at home.

Some children learn best by reading information, however my children definitely learn best hands on through play, so I introduced the life cycle of a turtle using a small world play tray with animal figurines. 

I find my children definitely learn and absorb so much information by being able to touch and manipulate figurines while playing. They're also big sensory seekers so anything with a sensory element is a big win, which is why we love small world play so much!

Dinosaur Egg Small World Sensory Play Tray

There seems to be many phases kids go through with toys as they're growing up, but one that's almost certain for both boys and girls is the dinosaur phase. When I was little this was all thanks to The Land Before Time cartoons. Little Foot, Petrie, Cera, Ducky and Spike were soooo cute I used to watch the movie and cartoons on repeat.

When I had my girls and they first started getting into animal figurines I thought dinosaurs would quickly become favourites, however it took them a little while to get interested. Once Dinosaur Train was on ABC Kids however they got into dinosaurs in a big way. Then when Dino Dana and Andy's Prehistoric Adventures were added it just cemented their love for dinosaurs and the history of them. We've done many dinosaur play activities now, but this Dinosaur Egg Small World Tray we did recently has been a firm favourite.

DINOSAUR EGG SMALL WORLD PLAY TRAY

Do you ever come up with awesome ideas at the most random of times? It happens to me all the time {probably because my brain never switches off}. This dinosaur small world idea popped into my head while I was cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. I had an idea to do a dinosaur small world in the back of my mind for a while, but when I started cracking the eggs for breakfast it's like a light bulb suddenly went off in my head. 

Straight away I knew if I carefully cracked them right I could keep them and set up an awesome small world complete with real hatching eggs. So the rest of the eggs I cracked right down low near the base and carefully got the egg out then thoroughly rinsed them and put them aside. I wanted to set up a dinosaur nest loosely based on the intro to Dinosaur Train where Tiny, Shiny, Don and Buddy hatch out of the eggs as the theme song plays.

Green Tree Frog Life Cycle Pond Small World

When my big girl started prep last year they did an awesome unit on butterflies where they got caterpillar eggs and kept them in their classroom. The kids got to watch them go through the life cycle all the way to butterflies and it was a great hands on way for them to learn about life cycles. After they did that I started thinking about creative ways I could teach other animal life cycles at home {without actually keeping live animals}.

I found the Safari Ltd life cycle of a frog figurine set and knew I could easily turn that into a fun small world for the girls. A frog life cycle small world was a great way to physically show them the life cycle of frogs in a hand on way, without having to actually keep or touch {eww}, real tadpoles and frogs.

Australian Animal Small World Play Tray

When my big girl started at school I noticed  there was an abundance of gum leaves, tiny gumnuts, flowers and sticks always strewn across the paths thanks to the wind. I love using nature in our play so I immediately had a brainwave to set up an Australian themed small world play tray. So I collected a few bits and pieces with my toddler on the way home and set up a surprise play tray for her big sister.

Rock Pool Pollution Sensory Tray

If you love all things mini then you'll love this environmental rock pool small world using mini supermarket items. It's a great way to teach children about the dangers rubbish causes to aquatic life in our oceans and also a great way to open a discussion about recycling and putting rubbish in the bin. 

Even if you don't have any mini food toys, you can still do the same activity with just little pieces of rubbish like bottle tops, plastic, straws and bread ties. This is also a great activity to do in April for Earth Day.