prairiewindmomma Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I'm incorporating more Montessori work into our homeschool for our younger children so that they are occupied with suitable activities while I am working with my older kids. (IE---toddler needs to stop destroying the house). I'd like to pick up a 3 part tray for card work for my K'er and I'm needing 4-6 trays that I can set up for my toddler each day. I'd like a few wood ones and a few plastic ones. Any ideas? The breakfast trays are much too large for some activities....something with a base about the size of a sheet of paper would be lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nature girl Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Michaels sells good quality plastic trays, meant for crafting but they work really well for isolating activities. We've also used the wooden trays that come with Melissa and Doug toys for a number of things. (Those trays are awful for storing M&D since they don't have a lid, but work perfectly for setting up activities...I just store the toys that come with them in separate plastic bins.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
school17777 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I got a set at Oriental Trading. Lakeshore Learning has a nice set too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Btervet Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 IKEA has some really nice trays of all sizes in their kitchen section. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I bought a dozen used fiberglass cafeteria trays on ebay. We use them for everything and they are very sturdy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anabelneri Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I don't know where you are, but we have Daiso, which is a Japanese dollar store, and they often have a lot of great little trays. It's worth doing w a search for any near you, or look for other Japanese stores because they like little things :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PagesandFields Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 I have 2 ideas... both of which I had but never used... :) 1 - Just make some... quality plywood looks amazingly lovely when oiled or shellacked... cut to the right size, either just put handles on each side, or tack down a 1 by 1 around the sides.. 2 - there are a few kinds of trays that were very very popular 30-50 years ago that you OFTEN find at antique stores and thrift stores. You might find a set of them to use. They're smaller, which is nice. I got really really into trying to set up montessori activities on trays for a while... but realized I just wasn't good enough at planning it out. Instead I had 5 paper lunch sacks each with different little activities in it. I just got the lunch sack and did it on a place mat. (I really like place mats and tiny rugs and use those instead of trays unless it's messy... if it's messy we just do it outside) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 IKEA has some really nice trays of all sizes in their kitchen section. This is what I use also. They have proven to be very sturdy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 I get mine for my preschool class at Ikea, from thrift stores, and (silver ones, mostly) from Dollar Tree. I find using a work rug to be esp nice when I can't get the right-sized tray for a work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Following Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 They are metal, but I got several small cookie sheets/trays at Dollar Tree. They worked great because I was needing something that would work for magnets too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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