My name is Tanya and I am mum to 3 beautiful babies- My 9 year old daughter and my 7 and 2 year old sons and partner to my best friend, Robbie. We call the spectacularly beautiful, state of Tasmania home.
I am an Early Childhood teacher with over 20 years of experience in education, working with children from Preschool to High School, predominantly Kindergarten and Prep.
Teaching through play is my passion. Play dough has always been a regular and much loved sensory experience in my classroom Kinder to Grade 6 and my home. After the birth of my third and final baby, although I’m not currently in the classroom I still wanted to have a positive influence on the growth and development of little people through the power of play, which meant somehow getting into your homes!
So, I combine my passion for child development and creativity with my teaching experience and degree in education and my love for creating sensory provocations that engage, excite and enrich little minds and Hands on Play was born – creating small world sensory play kits that provide extraordinary play-based learning experiences which aren’t confined to a classroom setting, are easy to set up and clean up, are transportable, reusable and guarantee to buy Mum and Dad time!
My hope and vision is for these beautiful kits and accessories to enter your homes offering children of all ages endless interactions and opportunities for learning and development through sensory and imaginative play that nurtures all areas of their development, challenges, delights, engages and is most importantly fun!
Tanya x
Hands on Play specialises in the creation of handmade small world, sensory play kits and accessories for children of all ages. Products include themed Small World Sensory Play Kits, handcrafted, 5 in 1 wooden dough stamps, Mini Small World Sensory Play Kits, hand crafted Tas Oak rolling pins, jars of dough and special occasion ranges for Easter and Christmas celebrations.
Each sensory play kit is:
~ Handmade ~ Exudes multiple invitations to play ~ Open ended
~ Non prescriptive ~ Full of repetitive, varied, educationally sound play
~ Engaging ~ Developed to nurture and support key educational outcomes
~ FUN, FUN, FUN!
Founded by a highly experienced Early Childhood teacher Hands on Play’s aim is to provide children with educational experiences that are open-ended, based on the seven senses (smell, sight, touch, taste, sound, vestibular and proprioception), hands on, engaging and inspiring that support their physical, social, emotional and cognitive learning and development through imaginative play. Making accessible to busy, time strapped parents an educational resource to support their child’s development or make a perfect, unique gift, as well as sharing ongoing, relevant knowledge, advise and expertise. Hands on Play products can offer educational support to settings that support development including schools, early learning centres, physio therapists and occupational therapists as a ready-made resource to support their professional practice.
Hands on Play products are created from the knowledge and experience of 20+ years of working with children from birth to 12 years of age in educational settings, particularly early years education.
They are child centred, handmade (sourcing Tasmanian products where possible), designed to fit little hands and purposely selected to engage, ignite and inspire little minds over and over again. Hands on Play’s dough has been perfected to create a sensory base that will last for 6 months plus when stored correctly and is soft, pliable, sweet smelling and plentiful. Exceptional personal skills ensures that customer communication, interaction and responses are priority to ensure every customer is satisfied and our products are commendable for quality and value for money.