Blog homeOur Easter investigation tray is a great way to encourage young children to develop their fine motor skills, at the same time as learning about Easter and having lots of fun! As with all sensory trays, it is really flexible, offering you the opportunity to tailor it to the specific needs of your children.
To create our Easter egg hunt sensory tray we used
Faux Sheep Skin Fabric (optional)
You shouldn’t need to encourage your children too much to get stuck into playing with this investigative tray, we found they were raring to go! While playing and having fun, they’ll be developing lots of skills across many key development areas, including:
Cognitive development
While they are enjoying exploring items in the tray, children are constantly developing their ‘thinking skills’, comparing materials, shapes and sizes. They may choose to order items based on a certain criteria, such as colour, and will then constantly be assessing the contents and making connections. Creating and playing their own games is also a great way to develop understanding of structure, rules, and concentration.
Language development
The variety of items in the tray offers children a chance to discuss the contents, and develop their language skills. By creating an Easter egg hunt, hiding and re-discovering the eggs, children can practice using prepositions in explaining the locations of different eggs. Giving reasons why they have moved certain eggs and not others is a great for developing techniques of explanation, and there are countless other ways in which the children can learn and develop language with this activity.
Social and emotional development
Social and emotional development can be aided by encouraging children to explore the tray together. Working in pairs, or using a larger tray for small groups is a great way to promote sharing and co-operative play. Close interaction with each other also feeds in to language development, as children work to ensure that they each understand what each invented game or activity requires.
Physical development
Fine motor skills can be developed through playing with this tray, with children naturally picking up, sorting and hiding the different resources. Having a variety of items which test different motor skills, such as eggs which can be opened and closed, is important for allowing children to get the most out of an activity like this.
Additional Easter Activities
- Recreate the tray outdoors, hiding the Easter eggs and using written or picture clues to assist the children while playing outside
- Use a ‘feed the chick’ game to enhance fine motor skills
- Create personalised Easter art using hand and finger print painting
- Investigate gravity and friction by rolling Easter eggs down a friction ramp
- Discover more about Easter using the CBBC Easter Story performance.
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