Guest Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hi all. I'm just starting to set up a tuff spot in my nursery classroom. I had to do some research to work out what one is because I've never come across one before! Anyhoo, our current theme is 'birthdays' with a focus on shapes and colours. Any ideas on how to set up my tuff spot with this in mind? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hi all. I'm just starting to set up a tuff spot in my nursery classroom. I had to do some research to work out what one is because I've never come across one before! Anyhoo, our current theme is 'birthdays' with a focus on shapes and colours. Any ideas on how to set up my tuff spot with this in mind? Thanks in advance I love my tuff spot and usually have 2 on the go one outside and one in I have found the book 'the little book of tuff spot activities' by sally featherstone useful for ideas. She suggests on the birthday page making a gloop like mix with 2 cups of corn flour and 4 cups boiling water then cooking it and adding gelatin. The children then use this to make birthday cakes for each other decorating with candles, magnetic letters, buttons (diif colour/shape?), sequins etc and having a go at using piping bags filled with watered down mixture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 She suggests on the birthday page making a gloop like mix with 2 cups of corn flour and 4 cups boiling water then cooking it and adding gelatin. The children then use this to make birthday cakes for each other decorating with candles, magnetic letters, buttons (diif colour/shape?), sequins etc and having a go at using piping bags filled with watered down mixture. This sounds good (and messy)! The only available space for my tuff spot tray at the moment is in a carpeted area. Have you found that an activity like this would be particularly messy? I'm thinking something like this would need a bit of adult guidance if I want to stay in the caretaker's good books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I did a quick forum search and found an old thread here which gives a lot of ideas! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 I did a quick forum search and found an old thread here which gives a lot of ideas! Maz Thank you for that link! Some fab ideas on there to keep me busy for a while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Thanks for that - I was lacking inspiration for ours at the moment and the old thread has given me lots of new ideas. The other thing we use ours for sometimes is the marble run as it stops the marbles running away! Also good for putting inside small world toys or construction kits outside for a change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Hi, one of our staff did a brilliant large block of ice with stuff inside it. You just need one of those plastic trays that they keep their book folders in, you then add water and various items (e.g. she did a 'leaves' one and an 'under the sea' one). This goes in the freezer and when it is set you put it in the tuff tray. As it melts the children can interact with it and eventually access the frozen items! Hilariously she put a maple leaf in it and one of the parents had a right old go at us because he thought it was another type of herbal leaf that can be smoked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Hilariously she put a maple leaf in it and one of the parents had a right old go at us because he thought it was another type of herbal leaf that can be smoked You should have told her you're keeping those leaves for the bonfire in a planned forest school adventure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 we've used ours to make patterned paper,......put a large piece of paper in bottom, have a few pots of paints with diff size marbles in, children drop marbles on then all move tray around together to make patterns, trying not to let the marbles tip over the edge (maybe not great on carpet though)....... could cut up when dry and use as 'birthday wrapping paper'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 we've used ours to make patterned paper,......put a large piece of paper in bottom, have a few pots of paints with diff size marbles in, children drop marbles on then all move tray around together to make patterns, trying not to let the marbles tip over the edge (maybe not great on carpet though)....... could cut up when dry and use as 'birthday wrapping paper'. A lovely idea! Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 Last week we were doing 'Owl Babies' so my tuff spot had coloured feathers, twigs and various sizes of soft toy owls to build nests. In KUW we learnt owls make very untidy nests so its become a bit of a class joke that we won't be owls in our classroom! This week is Gruffalo so I have in mind prickly things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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