Searching for an engaging, purposeful, and low-prep play tray that will help your students sequence familiar daily events? Look no further than our Sort the Washing: Sequencing Daily Events Play Tray. This interactive and hands-on resource provides a rich opportunity for students to build their sequencing skills, fine motor control, and understanding of time-based routines through playful exploration.

Students will love sorting through a pile of “laundry” to find daily activity cards and placing them in the correct time of day tub. The use of pegs, tongs, and fabric items not only makes the task feel playful and engaging, but also supports the development of fine motor skills including pincer grip, bilateral coordination, hand strength, and spatial awareness. This task combines sorting, thinking, and moving in one highly practical classroom activity that supports learning through play.

Setting up your play tray or tuff tray is simple. Print and cut out the included time of day labels and daily activity cards. Attach the labels—morning, daytime, and night—to three tubs. Hide the activity cards in a pile of clothes or fabric scraps and let students search, find, and sort. They’ll use pegs or tongs to retrieve each card and place it into the appropriate tub. Once sorted, students can sequence 2–4 cards from each tub in order along a washing line or flat surface, building skills in temporal understanding and oral language as they explain their choices.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Sequence familiar daily activities by time of day
• ✅ Develop fine motor skills through pinching, gripping, and placing
• ✅ Strengthen hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning
• ✅ Use oral language to describe and justify time-based routines
• ✅ Categorise and organise events into structured sequences

What’s Included:

• Detailed teacher instructions including equipment list and example set-up
• Time of Day labels (morning, daytime, night)
• 56 Daily Activity cards (some can belong to multiple time categories)
• Display signs with and without learning intentions
• Editable signs for custom messages or instructions

Materials Needed:

• Printed labels and activity cards
• Three plastic tubs
• Fabric pieces, toy clothes, or tea towels
• Pegs or tongs for each student
• String line or flat surface for sequencing

How to Use:

1. Print and cut the included cards and labels on thick card for durability.
2. Set up three tubs labelled with the times of day.
3. Hide the activity cards in the play tray with fabric items.
4. Students use pegs or tongs to collect and sort the cards into the correct tub.
5. After sorting, students sequence 2–4 cards from each tub in logical order.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use during a health or HASS unit on daily routines and time
• 💡 Set up as an independent or small group fine motor station
• 💡 Use in a morning warm-up or transition activity
• 💡 Extend by categorising daytime cards into morning, midday, or afternoon

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Print back-to-back with “flip on short edge” selected for correct card alignment
• 💛 Prompt students with discussion questions such as, “What time of day do we eat lunch?”
• 💛 Use real props where possible to support engagement and vocabulary building
• 💛 Revisit the same cards across the week to reinforce routine language and sequencing

Sort the Washing: Sequencing Daily Events Play Tray is a creative and practical way to support routine, time awareness, fine motor skills, and oral language development all in one. It’s time to sort the washing!