So as you know I have two little geeklings: Lil'C and Lil'K. :)
One of our major parenting philosophies is to teach our children to longer need us. To make them self-sufficient. With Lil'C also having physical issues we find that even more important. We want him to be able to learn to do everything on his own and we push him to do so. We think that is part of why he is walking and doing all of the things he is now. So when we stumbled upon the Montessori Philosophy it fit right in "Teach them to do it themselves." With Montessori the activities/lessons/work are placed on trays to keep them organized and help the students learn to care for their workspace. Montessori also pushes natural materials from what I understand and have read thus far, which is where these trays differ from the philosophy, but I think they are pretty which follows the philosophy :P
Here is how they work..
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| Supplies needed: Empty Cereal Box, Duck Tape and Scissors. |
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| Cut box all the way down each side |
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| Tape the tops closed and THEN cut the tops in half |
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| This will give you two halves |
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| To make a smaller Tray cut one of the halves in half |
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| Lay over each other to desired size |
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| Tape into place |
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| Cover in tape |
Now to create handles:
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| Pull off a strip (double your desired length plus 4 inches) of Tape and lay sticky side up |
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| Fold in Third |
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| Fold over the other Third |
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| Cut in half |
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| Attach one half to strip just short of the length of the side of tray |
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| Attach to tray facing DOWNWARDS |
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| Fold handle up and attach another strip over the bottom part |
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| Secure tape strip |
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| Repeat with other handle and TAH DAH! |
