Lentil Play

I presented this simple tray filled with orange lentils to 3 children with just a few basic tools - 1 funnel 3 spoons and an ice cube tray.

They all dived in instantly scooping up the lentils using the spoons and tipping them off again listening to the calming sound they make as they hit the tray again 

One of the children then discovered the funnel, placed it on their lap and used the spoon to carefully transfer the lentil from the tray to the funnel, whilst one of the other children used the ice cube tray to divide the lentils into the individual sections, 

all the children were kept engaged in carefully transferring, tipping and pouring for quite some time taking turns to use different objects and skills, the lentils all help to develop those pre writing skills and the children use their fingers to mark make in the tray  leaving their marks.