About TrayTots
Drafting — everyone picks one thing from a shared row, then passes the rest along — is one of the great modern board-game moves (think Sushi-Go or Azul). But it usually starts at age 8+ and hides the idea behind points. TrayTots brings it to ages 3–5 with the simplest, kindest version: take one fruit, and leave the rest for your friend.
Your pick changes what’s left
When you take a fruit from Wicker’s tray, the rest passes to Juniper. So the child feels that their choice shapes what their friend can pick — first interdependence, the seed of taking turns and sharing.
Fill a rainbow (set collection)
The basket wants one of each colour — a rainbow. That gives the pick a gentle purpose: choose the colour you don’t have yet. It’s set collection and colour-sorting, felt through play.
Game weight (measured, not asserted)
We follow one rule across the library: a game’s weight is measured, never guessed. The pips below come from letting the computer play TrayTots hundreds of times and counting how many choices a turn it holds and how long a round runs — so a grown-up can pick by how much the child has to keep in their head.
Measured over 200 self-play games: about 4.0 choices a turn, ~8 turns long.
What it’s good for (and what we don’t claim)
TrayTots is gentle practice for taking turns, sharing, and sorting by colour. It is not a curriculum or a brain-training app, and we make no claim it raises IQ or test scores.
Safe by design
- No losing. Both baskets fill; no one loses to a friend, and there are no “negative points.”
- On your device. Nothing is sent anywhere; no account, no sign-in.
- Audio-first, big buttons. Made for a pre-reader — hear what happens, tap big targets.