Learning can happen anywhere and anytime.

This can’t be anymore truer for children! From the age of 1 to 5 years old, a child’s brain undergoes a rapid period of development producing 700 new neural connections every second. By the age of 5, 90% of a child’s brain is already developed, which means the progression from birth to 5 years old is a critical part of their lives.

With their brains developing at such a fast and exponential pace, learning can truly happen anywhere and anytime. Here’s a really great article to help you understand a child’s brain development from age 1 to 5 - click here.

In this article, I share 17 tips on how to incorporate learning into everyday life! Yes, you do not always need expensive toys, or lots of time and effort to prep activities 😉. Find out how below!

Sensory play was one of the first few activities I carried out with my little one when I started our learning through play journey. He was just shy of 18 months old when I set up his first sensory play. At that time, I simply used the largest Tupperware container I can find at home.

And since then, I had been on the lookout for a better sensory play tray. IKEA Trofast storage box in white came close to what I had in mind. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon the Kmart serving tray that I found my perfect play tray!

This circular serving tray is made from powder-coated iron sheet with wooden handles, and comes in black and white. It measures 45cm by 36cm in length and width, and 10.3cm in height. It’s only available in Australia’s Kmart stores, and try as I might, I could not find it anywhere in Singapore!

It wasn’t until a family trip to Melbourne in 2018 that I decided I just had to get my hands on this! We drove 40mins to the nearest Kmart from where we were then, my husband probably thought I was crazy, but I insisted we had to lug one home. We bought the black one and I’ve never regretted since. We used this as our play tray so often at home it was definitely worth the time, effort and money to get this!

I call it my perfect play tray. Why?

So let’s get into it! What are the ways to play with these amazing versatile materials? Here, we show you 18 different ways of playing with them which span across 13 different skills and learning abilities!