It’s great to use a Tuff Spot for playtime, the ideas are limitless and just a quick search of Pinterest shows thousands of ideas. Having a tough spot at floor height is great for babies and young toddlers, especially for sensory activities. They benefit from being able to access the activity, or even sit in the middle of it!
However I’ve found with older children that they often like to play standing at a table, or even pull up a chair. One solution to this is to put your tuff spot on a table, though I’ve seen more than a few spilled trays when children are involved in their play! Especially if there is a small group of them all wanting to be closer to the fun. A tuff tray stand is a great solution to this. The best ones are actually adjustable to 3 different heights, and they don’t slide when children lean against them, as the stand has grips on the bottom. The stands grow with your child and folds away very conveniently to take up very little space. (Ours fits down the side of our toy shelves) Amazon sells one of the more reasonably priced tuff spot stands that we were able to find.
As well as using our tuff spot stand as a convenient drawing table when it first arrived, I was also extremely excited to use it for a very fun activity, den building! I don’t know about other adults, but at least one small part of me has never grown up, and that is that part that enjoys to build and spend time in small, comfy places. 😁 All you need is your tuff tray stand and whatever sheets and blankets you have available at home/your play setting. I also found that using a tuff spot on the stand helped to stabilise the roof, whilst the children were playing. Just look how cosy it is!
Once you have your den set up you can use the inside to read stories, or let the children use their imaginations with role-play. If you use a tuff spot to support the roof then you can also provide use the surface to provide props to aid play, costumes, etc. Why not pretend that the den is a bear cave and provide a selection of teddy bears and the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” (A favourite in our house!) Why not have a tea party in your new den? Or a picnic? (either real or pretend) The options are endless. ☺️