Busboy Trays

We bought these, what I call, busboy trays at Smart and Final. They don't have a picture on line, so I found a picture elsewhere. However, I'm sure, if you've ever been in a restaurant to eat, you have seen the, usually gray, tubs that the busboys use when cleaning up a table. They dump all the dishes from the table into the buckets and then wipe the table down using the bucket to catch whatever they wipe off. Well, we initially bought them for the kitchen (we provide meals for the children in our center). The cook puts everything in the buckets for each classroom and then, at the end of the meal, everything gets put back in the buckets to go back. Maybe one day soon I'll show you what our typical meal service looks like. One bucket will last year! They are easy to clean, sturdy and thick, so they are not prone to cracks or breaks. I know that at the center I am currently at, we have had these trays for more than 6 years, I can't go back further than that to date them. However, they are still in great shape. If we only used them for meal service, that would be worth getting them.

I have found another great use for them: in the classroom. I have used these for all sorts of activities. They are great to use on table tops for small sensory activities. When we do a sink/float lesson, I will use these as well. One of the best activities was filling them about 3/4 full of sand. We made mountains and poured water with cups, droppers, and spray bottles to make rivers, valleys, and other things. This was such a popular activity we left it out on the science table for a while too. They work pretty well with marble painting as well, but some of the smaller children have a hard time holding them. Putting bubble solution on the bottom to use large bubble wands are great! If you have some children that need the sensory experience, but have a hard time working in a group at the sensory table, these work very well to give them their own space. The possibility of uses seems to be endless with these tubs.

I highly recommend making them part of your classroom.