tufftrayideas – A House of Play

27 January 2025

‘Frozen’ Play Ideas & Activities

Whose kids love Frozen? Definitely mine! The kids have loved Elsa, Anna and friends for a few years now and are currently in a major Frozen-loving phase.

I like to try and build on their interests when I can, so I thought up a few activities that involve Elsa and Anna. Winter is the perfect season for some real and pretend ice play. Here are some of the Frozen-inspired play activities we’ve done and loved lately.

Frozen Ice Rescue

What says ‘Frozen’ more than an actual castle made of ice?

I used buckets, mud kitchen pans and recycling containers (milk cartons, plastic bottles and a muffin package), filled them with water and left them outside to freeze. I also filled up the Tuff Tray with water and left it to freeze. Since some of the buckets were large and our temperatures didn’t drop very low, it took a few days for the containers of water to all freeze, so you may need to plan a few days in advance.

The Little People Frozen characters froze in cups of water in the freezer.

When everything was frozen, I set out the ice pieces and stacked a few of them to resemble a castle tower. I also put out a bowl of table salt and some squeeze bottles of warm water. When the kids came outside, they used the salt and warm water to free their friends from the ice.

It’s a great activity for hand strength and learning about how to melt ice. I found it to be an inexpensive, easy and fun option for winter play!

Large Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Squeeze bottles – Dollarama
Little People Frozen characters (these are my kids’ favourites)

Frozen Arendelle Castle Small World

We can only be outside for short periods of time in the winter, so I set up our wooden castle pieces indoors to resemble Arendelle (as best I could). The kids said it didn’t look like Arendelle (haha), but I think they had fun with it anyway.

The castle is a mixture of the Drewart Large Fastness (the largest of the Drewart fastness castles), the Drewart Crane Tower, the Drewart Pirate Island and a number of Ostheimer castle pieces and walls. I added Wonderie Play Cloths as a back drop and floor covering along with some Sarah’s Silks. Then, I added the Frozen characters, some felt winter pieces and some gems and lucite cubes. The kids also decided to add their unicorns to the scene.

The castle was big enough for them to sit inside and they enjoyed dreaming up all kinds of stories involving their Frozen friends.

Wooden castle pieces: Drewart Large Fastness, Crane Tower and Pirate Island, Ostheimer Castle pieces – Nest
Wonder ‘Waves of Light in the Night’ Play Cloth, felt snow stitched balls, icebergs, snowflakes, Grimm’s giant acrylic gems – Sewing Seeds Play (save with HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Preloved Wonder ‘Frozen Arctic’ Play Cloth, wooden cart, Sewing Seeds Play felt snow stitched balls – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Aurora Blocks, Arctic Ice Cave, wooden snowflakes – The Maple Mouse Sensory (save with ‘houseofplay10)
Sarah’s Silks play silks

Frozen Fizzy Light Table

We recently added a Light Table and Clear Cover Tray to our play resources. It’s been wonderful for the kids during the winter months when we’re inside more than usual. The light has such a soothing feeling and adds a new element to our sensory play.

We tried out some fizzy play on the light table and invited our Frozen pals to the party.

We used Magic Potion Powder and squeeze bottles of water (since the fizz reaction is activated by water). I also added some Miracle Snow for the kids to mix with their potions. It comes as a powder that is activated by water to resemble real snow. Since both potion powder and snow are activated by water – they were very compatible in this play. When things get wet and messy, I avoid anything wood or felt and stick with resin, acrylic and plastic for easy cleaning after.

The kids explored the textures, mixed up potions and then created a Frozen spa with warm water for Anna and cold water for Elsa. I always love seeing what creative ideas they come up with.

The fizzing reaction is also very interesting to watch on the light table since the bubble details are accentuated.

Magic Potion Powder, Resin trees – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Tickit A2 Light Panel and Cover, Miracle Snow – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Resin ‘mermaid pond’, turquoise pool dish, iceberg playscapes – Olive Eve & Co.
Resin ice pieces, acrylic snowflakes, light disc – Stars and Sensory
Resin dark blue potion bowl – Crafty Minds Collection
Resin letters and snowflakes – Little Play Lab Co.

girl playing with frozen fizzy potion activity

Do your kids love Frozen? What are some of your favourite ways to include Elsa and Anna in your play?

26 July 202426 July 2024

Pirate Small World Sensory Play Activity

We’ve done mermaid play, so we also needed to do some pirate play. The kids loved this activity – something about the combination of collecting treasure and putting people in jail is so much fun for kids.

I used our Tuff Tray and put in our Drewart Pirate Island and some beach sand and pasta shells sensory mix to make up our pirate island. Of course, weI also had to include many treasures!

It’s interesting to me that these pirate toys have been out for a while at our house ( they were in July’s toy rotation and they do get played with), but as soon as I put them in a tray with some sensory mixes – the kids’ imaginations exploded and they came up with all kinds of new stories. I really do believe that sensory can help bring new life to toys .

We had this play activity out in our playroom for about a week and my 3 year old son, especially, loved creating his own imaginative stories about finding treasure and imprisoning and rescuing pirates.

Materials

Pirate Ship and pirates – thrifted
Drewart Pirate Island – Nest
Sensory mixes (Sandy Seascape and Tidal Treasures) – The Creative Mix Shop
Acrylic mini gems, sand dollars and dry-erase pirate map flisat insert – Stars and Sensory
Felt palm trees, felt anchor and Grimms Giant Acrylic Gem Stones – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
My favourite Bathymetric Pond (it’s so versatile!0 – Aurora + Holly Children’s Accessories and Play

14 May 202414 May 2024

Birds Play-Based Learning Activity

If you saw our toy rotation post for this month, then you know the Folkmanis Bird Finger Puppets and the Backyard Bird Songs book are currently in our toy rotation. The kids have been fascinated by learning about the birds and they especially want to know what the birds eat. So, I thought a sensory/ small world/ learning tray might be fun activity for them.

I used the Bugs in the Garden kit from Readymade Play Canada to make this tray. The kit includes dirt scented sensory filler that really smells like dirt and makes the scene seem so much more realistic. Then I added in our paper maché tree from a previous play, our large resin pondscape, some moss and some scrunched paper filler to fill up the tray. It was the perfect scene for our little birds and their food sources.

folkmanis finger puppet birds on paper mache tree

The kids dove right into this activity and wanted to explore all the different types of bird food available (worms, insects, seeds, berries). The artificial worms, in particular, were a big hit. They are very stretchy and added an extra interesting sensory texture to the tray.

My 3 year old son spent a lot of time acting out little scenes with the birds. One of his favourites was bringing all the birds and insects inside the tree because it was raining.

It was a great way to extend our play with the Folkmanis finger puppet birds and add a sensory element to our learning about what birds eat.

Materials

The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs – Amazon
Folkmanis bird finger puppets, felt worm, ladybug and dragonfly, felt balls for seeds and berries – Sewing Seeds Play (code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
”Bugs in the Garden Bin in a Bag” with scented dirt filler (I used 2 bags of the dirt filler here) – Readymade Play Canada (code PLAY10)
Resin pondscape and resin stump – Olive Eve and Co.
Artificial worms – Amazon
Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice
DIY paper maché tree (I have another blog post here about how I made it)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

17 April 202419 April 2024

Dinosaur Sensory Play Tray

I joined a loop on Instagram with a “Prehistoric” theme. Originally, I thought it would be a small break from our pond/ Earth Day play, but when I think about it – dinosaurs fit in pretty well with Earth Day themes. What better reminder of how fragile life on the planet can be and then how quickly it can be extinguished.

For this tray, I used our felt Papoose Volcano and Olli Ella Dinos along with a variety of different sensory mixes. The grass is rice and unsweetened coconut that I dyed with food colouring. I just mixed some blue and yellow food colouring, added a splash of vinegar so it would be easier to spread around and poured it into the bowl of coconut. The coconut required more food colouring to turn green than the rice, but the smell of it is amazing and well worth the effort.

The speckled rocks are dry pinto beans, the lava is made from red lentil and the pond and stream is our felt pond piece along with some aquarium gravel. I am new to the concept of using aquarium gravel in sensory play, but i’m loving the colour variation and texture so far. I put a few white lima beans around the river as a river rock bed.

Then I added in some fake vegetation pieces, trees and rocks. I used a small amount of floral foam to hold some of the bunches together. Finally, it was time to add dinos, dino eggs, lizards and bury our Yellow Door Education dinosaur footprint stones.

To add an extra learning element to the activity, I made a Search and Count card for the kids so they could discover and count the various elements. I will include the link here if you’d like to download it.

Materials

Tuff Tray (Scholar’s Choice)
Dry rice, lentils, pinto beans, lima beans, coconut (Bulk Barn)
Aquarium Gravel – used 3 bags (Amazon)*
Rocks, vegetation (Dollarama)
Papoose felt volcano
Olli Ella Dinosaurs
Sewing Seeds Play** felt eggs
Grimm’s wood stacking bowl
Sewing Seeds Play** felt palm trees
Raduga Grez wood trees
Yellow Door Education Let’s Investigate Dinosaur Footprint (Sewing Seeds Play**)
Yellow Door Rustic Pourers (turned upside down) (Sewing Seeds Play**)
Dinosaur Search & Count Card (DIY)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

** Save at Sewing Seeds Play with code HOUSEOFPLAY10

17 April 202419 April 2024

Pond Clean Up Play Tray

When we read Pond by Jim LaMarche, I immediately thought it would make a fun activity for the kids. It’s about a boy who finds a former pond area and restores it with friends and family. In return, the healthy pond has a wonderful impact on the boy’s life.

To recreate the pond area, I set up our Tuff Tray and laid down the Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth first. Then I added grass mats, stones, sticks and vegetation and poured water over it all. Finally I added the animals, clean recycling, some bowls and scoops.

When the kids saw the tray, they dove right into pond clean-up and enjoyed playing with all the elements of the pond. They did need a little prompting to think of this activity in terms of the book. We haven’t done a lot of book sensory play, so it may be that we just need to practice that way of thinking and do book-related play more often.

The book and activity fit right into our week of pond play and was a great precursor to Earth Day.

Materials

Book “Pond” by Jim LaMarche (Amazon)
Tuff Tray (Scholar’s Choice)
Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth (The Playful Peacock)
Yellow Door Education Rustic Pourers (Sewing Seeds Play – save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Rocks, grass, vegetation, glass beads (Dollarama)
Cattails (DIY – skewers & painted corks in floral foam)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

1 March 20242 March 2024

Peter Rabbit Sensory Play Tray

I love Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter’s world of adorable critters. I used to read the stories over and over again when I was a child. So, when I saw Tiny Fox Hole’s set of Peter Rabbit characters I had to get them. I wanted to give them a a world to live in where my kids could recreate parts of the books and their own imaginative stories. This play tray is what I came up with.

Supplies I used

Tuff Tray (mine is from Scholar’s Choice)
Cardboard tray insert (I made this using the box the tray came in)
Wooden characters (Tiny Fox Hole)

Grass Section

Artificial grass squares (Dollarama)
DIY Tree Burrow (see here for more info on how I made it)
Wood furniture – The Friendly Woodworker from Wonder + Kind
Miniature vegetables (Maileg)
Felt pond (Sewing Seeds Play*)
Glass beads
Grapat Mandala Coins
River rocks and artificial greenery
Grimm’s wood stacking bowls
Grapat Mandala Eggs
Resin eggs (The Creative Mix Shop)
Grapat Mandala Flowers

Woods Section

Sensory Mix (homemade)
Raduga Grez and Ostheimer wood trees
Wood mushrooms (Dollarama)
Stone and gem mushrooms (AliExpress)
Grapat Mandala Beehives
Grapat Mandala Mushrooms
Grapat Mandala Trees
Felt bee (Sewing Seeds Play*)

Mr. McGregor’s Garden

Dry black beans (Bulk Barn)
Goki My Little Garden Doll Accessories (Sewing Seeds Play*)
Felt worms, ladybug, bees, butterfly and dragonfly (Sewing Seeds Play*)

*Use code HOUESOFPLAY10 to save at Sewing Seeds Play

Finally, I set up our Yoto Mini with the Peter Rabbit card so the kids and I could listen to the stories we played. This tray is one of our favourites. What do you think?

23 February 202423 February 2024

Farm Sensory Play Tray

If you saw my last post, then you know my 3 year old son loves his farm toys. He begged me to set up a farm activity for him. So, I used some sensory materials from my cupboard and from previous activities to make him a tray.

I used dry popcorn, green split peas for grass, and chocolate cereal for mud. I had a leftover mix from a previous activity of dry spaghetti, lentils and ground up cereal that covered the horse paddock.

Other materials

Felt pond (Sewing Seeds Play)
Wood fences (Ostheimer)
Animals (Schleich)
Chicken coop (Schleich)
Barn (Fisher-price)

My son was thrilled. I love a tray like this with dry goods because I will leave them out for a few days. Although the odd stray piece will make it out of the tray, it’s fairly easy to pick up. It’s an easy way to add a little special magic to his farm play.

19 February 202419 February 2024

Leftover Flowers Sensory Play Tray

Flowers are so expensive, it’s a shame to throw them out once they start declining. I had some flowers that were starting to wilt, so I froze them in a container of water and turned them into a flower ice block for sensory play.

freeze leftover flowers for sensory play

I placed the frozen flower ice block on our Tuff Tray with a few play scarves underneath for colour and grip. Then I added my DIY Fizzy Powder, water, some bowls, scoops, pipettes, dried rose buds, soap shavings and a selection of loose parts.

I have done ice block, fizzy play before, but tried a few slight adjustments this time – and it worked better. The ice was thinner, so it was easier to separate the flowers from it and I put the ice out early on the tray so it had started to melt by the time the kids came in to play with it.

Materials

Flower Ice Block
Fizzy Powder
Natural add-ins (I had some dried rose buds (Sewing Seeds Play) and soap shavings that I put out)
Loose parts (the resin pieces are from Stars and Sensory and Playspiration on Instagram, the acrylic loose pieces are from Eye Spy Club)
Bowls (most from my kitchen, the eco friendly pie crust dishes are from Stars and Sensory)
Tools (pipettes, tongs, any other scoops or stirring sticks)

My Thoughts

Fun – High

The kids loved this tray. They found the frozen flowers very interesting and inviting and were very content making fizzy potions and flower soup for hours.

Engagement Time – 1 hour +

The tray stayed out for about half the day and the kids played with it on and off. I didn’t time every play session, but a conservative estimate of play time is 1 hour +.

Cost – Low

The ice flower block and DIY Fizzy Powder are inexpensive to make and you can add whatever loose parts or dried flowers you have on hand.

Effort – Medium

This activity has a fairly quick and easy set up. It doesn’t create much mess while the activity is happening – I love that about water and fizzy play. If a little water drips on the floor, it’s not a big deal. Most of the effort comes during the clean up. When the play was over, I separated all the loose parts, bowls and scoops and washed and dried them, Then I removed all the silks, rinsed them and set them aside to wash in the washing machine. Lastly, I threw the flowers in the compost and mopped up the water in the tray. All the mess stayed in the tray, so for me, the clean-up effort didn’t seem too bad.

Final Thoughts

I have discovered that ice play is great for leaving out for many hours. The ice melts and changes over time, revealing new discoveries for the kids. We left this tray out for about half the day. The kids loved tinkering with it and then being able to leave and return at will.

Fizzy Play with pipettes and tongs is always a great chance to practice fine motor skills. The pinching and squeezing is a great workout for tiny hands. By not including many ladles or tools that scoop water, it forced the kids to use the pipettes more and their skills improved throughout play.

The flowers froze beautifully and I loved being able to repurpose them into something new. I’m always a little sad when cut flowers die and this was a great way to give them a grand, final send-off. I will definitely use wilted flowers again in sensory play.

18 January 202415 February 2024

Winter Sensory Play Tray

The kids had a blast playing with this winter activity last night. The set-up was pretty simple. I set the empty Tuff Tray outside on a slight angle and poured some water in. I left the tray outside overnight to freeze. The next day, I brought the tray in, mixed up some fake snow, and brought in some real snow. For the fake snow, I used Snowball Play from Zimpli Kids (Sewing Seeds Play). I filled the tray with approximately 1/3 of each material. Then I added Schleich and Terra by Battat animals, loose parts (winter resin loose parts from Little Play Lab Co., Bauspiel lucent cubes, clear snowflakes from Dollarama), scoops and bowls.

I usually stick to plastic, resin and metal add-ins for wet activities, so they are easy to wash after. Once the kids started playing, they decided to add a bowl of water to the tray for some extra washing and melting fun.

We have done snow and ice trays in past years, but I think this one was the most engaging. My guess is the variety of textures sparked the kids’ creativity and imagination. The ice was a fun slide for the penguins, other animals and frozen figures. The fake snow had a squishy, slightly sticky texture that was fun to mush and mix and the real snow was enjoyable to scoop and pack into bowls. I have a feeling they will be asking for a repeat of this one.