what do you put in your tuf spot / builders block

[foxy lady]

IM LOOKING FOR SOME NEW IDEAS FOR MY TUF SPOT/ BUILDERS BLOCK
so far i have tried
sand
water
jelly
leaves
pasta
fake snow stuff which they really liked

[watgem]

baby lotion-keep lots of towels handy though!, hay and farm set, gloop, coloured cooked spaghetti

[foxy lady]

baby lotion-keep lots of towels handy though!, hay and farm set, gloop, coloured cooked spaghetti
ooooh i like the idea of baby lotion

[Wendybird]

Water beads! They love them and I got them really cheap on ebay. I have some play maize stuff from ELC I'm going to try - I got the refill bags on sale for £1.50 each. Figured it would be good for outside in the cold weather as it isn't wet. Recently I've been doing small-world stuff in my sensory boxes - at the moment I have white felt in the bottom with cotton balls, blue sparkly pom poms, plastic arctic animals, an ice cave, some clear marbles, snowmen, some small metal bowls, a snow-covered tree with a couple of birds that can sit in it and some snow people (christmas ornaments I got on clearance).

For February I'm back to more sensory stuff and have some small buckets and scoops, a bag of small wooden and 2 bags of small plastic hearts and some other random valentines day stuff to chuck in there.

I've got plans for a gardening theme (small pots, dirt, seeds, shovels, etc), a birds theme (small birds, trees, mini-bird box, mini nest, feathers), ocean theme (shells, sand, fish, turtles, blue water, etc) and a chemistry theme - measuring beakers, test tubes, petri dishes, magnifiers, syringes and droppers, will have different bottles of coloured 'chemicals' as well.

I have seen fossils kits where kids break open 'rocks' to look for bones, fossils, etc - I'm sure you could diy that by sticking things in salt dough and drying it out.

Will be watching this thread with interest as I always have one or two boxes on the go and it starts to feel a bit same-ey.

[jumpinjen]

shaving foam and balls was a good one, some great mark making happened, blocks of ice with things frozen inside them and all different colours - we shone torches through them!
Jen x

[curly]

As well as messy play I bring mine in the house for the children to use as a base when during block play with the wooden blocks as the carpet drives them mad :mad:
The children I care for also get engrosed if I mix small world toys or animals with shells and rocks for example.

[miffy]

Compost with spades, seeds, sticks etc

Shaving foam for mark making

Cereal and trucks

Rice with scoops, scales, buckets

Ice

Miffy xx

[onceinabluemoon]

I didn't do it for my tough spot tray but have in the past frozen red water and blue water and then put it in a clear container (we were learning about colours at at the time) it's pretty cool when it all melts and the children wanted to know where the purple came from.

pasta
rice
lentils
ice
shaving foam
gloop
cars
blocks
farm animals
dinosaurs
beads
just about anything and everything really as it makes cool place where things can be a bit contained but they can still have it over a large space.

[mindingmummy]

I use my large one outside as a paddling pool in the summer as its too shallow for any risk of drowning.

Have used my smaller ones for messy play
Jelly
sand
baked beans
Cornflour and water
water
finger painting

Could also put paint in with some marbles and roll them to make patterns?

I use them inside most days for play dough or moon sand - makes cleaning up really easy and then if they have the moon sand out all day i can take it away from the table for lunch then just put back again afterwards...