Georgie & I headed to our local Sure Start Children’s Centre today for our “1st Time Moms” baby group. It is held twice a month during term time, and we learn about a different baby/parenting topic each session – which is really helpful when you’re a clueless first timer! Today the topic was “treasure baskets”, which happens to be a concept I love. We have a few of these baskets at our Friday baby group and they are always a big hit with the babies.
The basic idea of a treasure basket is that you have a basket (duh!) which is full of all sorts of treasures (again, duh!). These “treasures” are usually a collection of various household objects, with various textures, shapes, tastes & solidity. You then give the basket to your child who can dig around inside as much as they like, getting out the different objects to play with. It’s all about sensory play; allowing your child to develop their taste, touch and sound senses through different materials and shapes.
Your baby can use a treasure basket as soon as they can sit up unaided and reach out for things. Georgie isn’t quite sitting up on her own yet, but she enjoys sitting in her bumbo and grabbing things off the tray so it won’t be long!
You can buy treasure baskets online, like this Playscope Large Treasure Basket*, but I think it is nicer (and a lot cheaper!) to make your own. However, there is no harm in checking out the ones online to give you ideas of what to include! I have already started collecting items for mine, including a wooden spoon which is actually one of Georgie’s favourite toys!
You can find out more about treasure baskets at the Netmums site, and also at the Little Acorns to Mighty Oaks site, which has a handy list of ideas of what to put in your own basket. I know I’m going to have fun making mine Georgie’s!
Ha! One of your fellow bloggers on Love New Blogs has also posted on this topic this week so you are in good company. Treasure baskets are ace! We had one of our own, but it was a cardboard box full of bits of junk that kept my daughter occupied for hours. She also loved keys, so I made her a set of her own with some uncut coloured keys and some chunky keyrings. Simple ideas are the best!
I can't wait to get ours done, I want to put some really interesting stuff in there for her. I've even got my mum picking out some interesting fabric bits & pieces at her local fabric shop, as they do cheapo remnants!
What a great idea. My little girl is at about the same stage – can sit up in the bumbo but not unaided – and I can just imagine her really going for this. Definitely going to give it a try
Thanks! Georgie hasn't paid a lot of attention to the ones we have at baby group yet, but I think that is because they put them in the middle of the room and the babies who are mobile crawl to them! She loves it when I put some items within reach on her bumbo tray though, and she looks through them one by one!
What a great post. I love treasure baskets, which I first learnt about when I was still teaching. We've been working on our treasure basket for what seems like months. And every time that we get settled on the contents I find some new things to add or LittleMan gets bored of some of the older things. I find it fascinating sitting back and watching him play with it all, and he's equally fascinated by all the interesting 'toys' he finds inside, like a CD and a cork and a nail brush. x
A cd and cork are fab ideas, I must add some to mine! I think they are great because, like you say, it's so easy (and cheap!) to just keep renewing the contents. You could always have a second box somewhere with 'reserve items' that you swap in & out to keep the contents fresh and exciting 🙂