Treasure Basket 

When my daughter was a young toddler I loved presenting invitations to explore in the form of treasure baskets such as this one. It’s so easy, you just take random objects you already have and put them in a basket. Doesn’t get much simpler than this.😊

It kept my daughter entertained for long stretches as she took her time to examine and play with the objects inside. 

When putting treasure baskets together aim for:

⋒ A rich sensory experience through the use of different textures and colors. Here I used silk, wood, cotton, feathers and pom poms. 

⋒ Engaging multi-layered items. In this basket I used a mystery bag with wooden blocks inside as well as a wooden container with pom poms. She spent a while opening and closing the container and transferring the pom poms around – practical life is everywhere!

⋒ Open ended play – scarves and wooden toys such as a car, houses, a magic wand and other items are great for exploration and open-ended play.  A spent a while hiding things under the scarf, including herself and our cat for example, lined up the houses and drove the car around for a while. 

Be sure to supervise your child at all times if you offer any items (like pom poms) that could potentially be a choking hazard.

Cleaning up is part of the learning process, so make sure to encourage your child to tidy up after they finish playing. Model how to do it until your child feels confident enough to initiate the tidying up process independently.

• Can you help your child find a home for every item in the mystery basket?