Australia is a such a diverse country, from tropical rain forests and vibrant beaches to rich red earthy deserts. These play trays are ...

The vibant base is actually a handmade felt play mat or circle scene from my good friend Loretta at Needle + Felt. She's a creative genius and a wizz with the scissors! She's not only designed these two circle scenes, she's proto-typed them and made them real. You'll be very lucky to get your hands on one of them as she only does limited releases. 

The loose parts featured here are gum leaves from the bush reserve near my home. The leaves actually fell during a windstorm so I didn't even need to harvest them! They were on the ground. By doing this I was able to give them a second life in play. 

The driftwood, natural pebbles, Australian animal nature tube, and earthy woodgrain stones are from our store at Sticks & Stones Education. 

The tray you see me using here is a black saucer from Bunnings. I've posted a photo of the product below. I just love how this image turned out. I was having a good play day!

You just need to head to Bunnings or any hardware or landscaping store that sells pots and saucers. This saucer is a large one and is so handy! They have quite a few to choose from. This one is approximately 430mm diameter and cost about $2.50. As you can see it is a much more affordable option to the tuff tray or easier to work with than the Kmart play tray that we all know and love. 

Here you can see a mix of natural loose parts: banksia seed pod, pine cone, thick twig cuts, circle branch slices, natural pebbles, green seed pods and spiky seed pods. What a fabulous way to enrich children's visual and tactile sensory experiences through play.  We do see textures as well as colours with our eyes.