What is a Treasure Basket?

A low-sided basket or box filled with natural and everyday items which babies can explore by themselves.

What is the benefit for my baby?

They support your baby’s exploration and thinking by giving them the opportunity to explore with all their senses. They can feel, taste, hear, smell, and see a variety of textures, experiment and make choices.  It gives them early experience of sorting and classifying items, supports the development of fine motor skills and helps them to concentrate.

How do I prepare one? 

• A wicker basket is ideal for enhancing the sensory experience but a cardboard box can also be used.  Choose one which has low sides and is stable so that it is easy for your baby to see and reach inside.

 • Fill it to the very top with a large selection of different items.   The number of items will depend on the size of the basket, but it could be as many as 30-40 items.

• Ensure a variety of textures with minimal use of plastic. 

• Ensure all items are large enough not to be a choking hazard. 

• Make sure all items are clean and safe for your baby to explore.

• Add new items often, removing items that don’t appear to engage the babies at this time and adding items you think might attract their attention. 

What types of items can I fill it with?

• Natural items such as large pebbles, fir cones, feathers, leaves & shells
• Natural materials such as brushes, sponges, mats, bamboo, wool & wood
• Metal objects such as spoons, whisks, whistles and bells
• Wooden objects such as pegs, egg cups, curtain rings, bowls & spoons
• Paper and card objects such as boxes, rolls, pieces of tin foil & greaseproof paper
• Other suitable objects such as a leather purse, a shower puff or exfoliating mitt, pieces of fabric, small toy, bean bag, lavender or other herb bags

For safety reasons keep an eye out for any objects that have pieces broken off or have become unsafe and throw them away.  Never use any items that are smaller than those that can fit into a choke tube like the one shown on this link:

https://www.safetots.co.uk/babydan-choke-tester.html

How do I use it?

• Place the basket in an area free of other distractions. 

• Sit close to your baby, watching and letting them take the lead. 

• Interact with your baby when they initiate this.  Allow them to make their own choices about what to explore and how to do this. 

• Use the Treasure Basket daily or several times a week, to enhance your baby’s opportunities to explore

For safety reasons never leave your baby alone with a treasure basket, and always supervise their playtime with the basket.

What should I expect?

Items in a Treasure Basket can engage your baby for up to an hour. They can be very discriminating about what items they want to explore so don’t be surprised if they only wish to explore a few of them!  You will quickly learn what types of items grab their attention. 

This will give you useful information on their interests which you can use to plan other experiences for them. 

We hope you enjoy your treasure baskets as much as we do!

Young children love making and playing with play dough.  Here are some instructions and ideas on how to enjoy this activity together. 

1. Ingredients

• 1 cup salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1.5 cups boiling water
• 2 tbsp oil
• a few drops of fresh lemon juice

To this you can add fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, mint – anything that smells nice and is not an irritant!

Check for any allergies before starting and be careful with the hot water.

Ideas

Add some small twigs for pushing into the dough. Introduce pebbles, grass, leaves, pinecone kernels and flower petals for adding a range of textures and colours for added exploration.

What is the benefit for my toddler?

This activity enables your toddler to develop a wide range of skills such as:

• Maths by measuring, weighing and counting when you are making the dough together
• Physical motor skills through mixing, pinching, poking, squishing, and rolling the dough
• Expressive arts and design through sculpture, role play and imaginative play with the dough
• Literacy through role-play language and learning new vocabulary such as herb names
• Personal, social and emotional skills as they work independently or with you and stay involved in their play

We hope you enjoy your play dough as much as we do!

Young children love making things with you.  These bird feeders are easy to make and your child will get so much satisfaction from seeing the birds feeding from them.  This is a particularly good activity for the autumn and winter.

Method

• Cut the orange in half
• Scoop out all the fruit and juice with a metal spoon
• Using a sharp knife, make a small hole in each side of the orange
• Feed a length of string through the holes to make a hanging loop, tying a knot at each end so that you can pick it up
• The feeders can get a bit lop sided at this stage so you may need an additional loop or something to rest it on as well!
• Fill the orange with your bird seed
• Hang it outside, ideally somewhere where you will be able to keep an eye on it

Please support your child at all times when using a knife to help them use it safely

What is the benefit for my child?

This activity enables your child to develop a wide range of skills such as:

• Maths by investigating capacity, weighing, measuring, counting and looking at balance
• Physical motor skills by pinching, squeezing, pushing, tying and pouring
• Expressive art and design by making the feeder
• Personal, social and emotional by working together on this project
• Understanding the world by talking about what birds eat and why there is less food for them in the winter
• Communication and language by listening to instructions, asking questions and sharing ideas

We hope you enjoy making bird feeders as much as we do!