Why you absolutely need big trays in your Home Learning Space

Inside: Where to buy big trays and why you need them in your Home Learning Space.

What is one of the most used items in our Home Learning Space?

No, it's not paint. Not even the crayons.

My answer is going to surprise you. It's trays, BIG trays!

We have 4 big trays at home and they are used by my children almost every day. Whenever they want to work on anything potentially messy, like paint, play dough or cutting paper, they will pick up a big tray.

Related: You'll need big trays for this handprint colour mixing activity!

Children painting and making art at table in a room

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Why you need big trays in your Home Learning Space
Where to buy big trays
Activities using big trays

Why you need big trays in your Home Learning Space

I highly recommend big trays in your Home Learning Space because:

they are one of the easiest and most efficient ways to contain mess. Think of a tray as a catch-all bag for all the messy paint and sticky play dough.
the bigger the tray, the more allowance it has for children to move things around and still stay within the boundaries of the tray. This is especially helpful for young children, because their motor skills are not developed enough to keep within a small boundary.
a big tray provides sufficient space to hold all the materials like paper, paint cups, palette in one spot.
big trays make clean up easy too. When children are done with their activity or project, you can simply carry the tray with all the brushes, paint cups to the bathroom for washing.

big trays are wonderful for siblings to work together on a project together. My girls enjoy playing with play dough together, and this tray is big enough for both children to knead and cut their dough together.
at the same time, big trays work well to demarcate clear workspaces when multiple children are doing the activity together.