Little ones love to be involved with special days such as Mother’s Day and if you’re looking for some fun and engaging play ideas for the occasion, look no further!
Whether it’s an open ended play idea or making mom some breakfast in bed, there are so many tuff tray ideas that you can use in the lead up to and on the day itself that we think your little ones will adore.
19 Creative Mother’s day tuff tray ideas For Little Hands
1.Breakfast In Bed
What mom doesn’t love breakfast in bed?!
This tuff tray activity is the one that keeps on giving, and kids will love this role play with cardboard cutout items. These pieces can be used in an open ended play activity for months to come.
2. Mad Hatter Inspired
Treat mum to a mad hatter inspired tea party! This tuff tray setup is a lot of fun and there are so many sensory elements that they will love.
Ideally, this is an outdoor setup as there is some wet play involved. Add colored water, a tea set, a cake stand or plate with some plastic treats and a few cups of colored shaving foam.
3. Love Potion Making
Valentines themed tuff tray ideas are perfect for sharing the love on Mother’s Day too. Use colored rice, an empty bottle and other red and pink themed items.
Kids will love scooping, pouring and feeling the rice in their hands.
4. Perfume Making
Mom loves perfume, so get your little ones to create the perfect scent for you.
Color the water pink, add plenty of rise petals with a selection of petals in the center of the tuff tray. Add kettles and bowls and spoons for them to mix up a concoction!
5. Monster Mash
Not everything has to be pink and red for Mom’s special day, this monster mash idea is super cute and highly sensory for kids!
Match the monsters to colored rice and add little pom poms with plastic tweezers and spoons, encouraging little ones to pick and scoop the pom poms off the table, a great way to promote hand eye co-ordination and motor skills.
6. Spelling Names
Setup a Mother’s Day spelling bee! Add painted and lettered pebbles to the tuff tray along with your families names to spell, and get them to search for the right lettered pebbles to formulate the name.
7. Lily Pads
Water play is always the best play! If it’s a nice day, set this one up outside. Add water to the tuff tray, lily pads, some frogs and some foliage for a pond like feel and look.
8. Shaving Foam Tuff Tray Play
Colored shaving foam is one of the best sensory play items, it looks the part and it feels sticky, yet soft and light at the same time!
Add water and plenty of jugs and cups for little ones to explore to their hearts content.
9. Heart Making
Using colored rice which you can scent with rose aromatherapy oil for a little extra sensory fun, get your little ones to create some heart shapes with the rice in the differing sizes.
If they need a little bit of help, create the hearts for them, adding scoops and spoons to the tray so they can play around with the rice afterwards.
10. Flower Picking
How many flowers can they pick? Using spoons or plastic tweezers, this tuff tray setup will help to develop your littles one’s motor skills and hand eye co-ordination.
11. Card Making Station
Kids will adore this card making station, making mom something super special for Mother’s Day.
Add A4 cards folded in half, stickers, pens and any other bits and bobs you have lying around that are age appropriate.
12. Sensory Play
Sometimes a good open ended sensory play session is the best remedy for boredom!
Using dried rices or pasta, use this as the base and add mugs, scoops, and anything in between for something that kids will spend hours playing with.
13. Potting Garden
Get Mom’s flowers ready for the big day with their very own mini potting garden, this idea is so sweet.
Using faux or real flowers from the garden, get them to snip, play and create a beautiful bouquet for mom.
Things you will need for this setup:
✨tuff tray
✨fake flowers & flower pots
✨pebble filler
✨jar tray
✨flower stones and bowls
✨grass placemat
14. Flower Cutting
This flower cutting activity is ideal for slightly older kids. Get them to practice their cutting skills whilst also adding a fun water dye activity into the mix. Get kids to snip, dip and mix in the water and scoop.
15. Love Bugs
The prettiest tuff tray setup which promotes open ended role play.
Set a base with pink sand and add some activities into the tuff tray such as getting them to match the ladybird pairs, counting the dots on the ladybirds to find their pair and mark making in the sand.
16. Rainbow Colored Pasta
Brighten up any play activity with this rainbow colored pasta tuff tray! Kids will love the bright colors and the feel of scooping, running fingers through and scooping the pasta.
17. Shaving Foam Bubbles
A super simple setup for endless foamy fun!
Just add a couple of tablespoons of bubble bath to your tuff tray, pour in a few splashes of water, and whisk until you get a thick, fluffy foam.
For an extra pop of color, mix in a little food coloring! Take it outside for some open ended water play.
18. Green Fingers
For a green fingered mom, start your kids early! Kids will love making mini flower pots and the different textures of soil, flowers and tools engage the senses, promoting tactile learning.
19. Can You Make A Pattern?
This fun spring like caterpillar game is a lot of fun for toddlers and beyond. Get them to create a caterpillar with a fun pattern, and let them known how many counters they need to use to create them, this will add a bit of a mathematics element into it.
Which of these tuff tray ideas is your favorite? Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know in the comments below!
