Texture Tray 5 Senses Activity For Preschool

I am in full get ready for preschool mode now that my own children are back to school. My class starts in a few days and I have been prepping new free choice activities, science table materials, and more. I will be sharing a few more of these in the coming days. This texture tray is a matching game, but children don’t have to use it that way. The tray can simply be an exploration of textures as well and is a great 5 senses activity to explore touch. In my class I teach 2 and 3-year-olds, some will be ready to match the textures and some will simply explore. I love making classroom materials for next to no cost, this was well under $10 which is a fraction of the cost a commercially made texture activity would be and it only took a few minutes out of my day to throw together.

Gather your materials. You will need a divided tray ( dollar store!), some card stock, double stick tape, scissors, and different materials with varying textures. 

Cut the materials small enough to fit into the tray sections. We used sparkly foam, sandpaper, felt, shiny paper, corrugated paper, and non-slip foam.

Using the tape secure the trimmed materials to the tray.

Next cut your card stock into small squares that will fit into the center of the tray. 

Cut the various materials into small squares and tape to the card stock. I made two of each so more than one child could use this at the same time. 

Time to match up – my son helped me with this since I don’t take my camera into my classroom but obviously at 8 he wasn’t the target audience. Interestingly enough he stopped to explore each.