Keep Your Baby Occupied For Hours With A Treasure Basket.

Heuristic play

When my children were all babies and toddlers nothing would keep them more entertained than simple household objects. They would happily play for hours with a spoon and a saucepan way above any plastic toy that we had spent a lot of money on. I introduced the treasure baskets into our Bloom Baby Classes in 2017 and they have been a hit ever since with many parents replicating their own baskets at home.

In this short blog I will explain all about the benefits of heuristic play and how valuable they can be to your little one’s development. At our Baby Classes we allow babies to explore the treasure baskets each week for 10 minutes or so. This allows parents to chat together and share stories too. Watching the babies explore the baskets is such fun as they sit enjoying the items and engaging with other babies. Sharing skills do come into play too, its often fascinating watching babies communicate with one another. See our video below with two of our Bloom babies sharing some heuristic play items - one isn’t too sure!

History of the treasure basket

The concept of the treasure basket was created by Elinor Goldschmied who was a pioneering early years professional of her time. Elinor spent many years working with Italian children in children’s homes in the second world war. Her work observed how even babies benefited from unstructured play with natural and simple household items. Elinor observed how babies, in particular, used their senses to explore these items. This type of activity is an example of sensory play where the main purpose of the activity is to engage all the senses. Babies from 6-15m would generally begin this process by touching the object and putting it to their mouth to taste and feel the object. It is usually at this point where some parents will discourage baby from putting the object in their mouth but this simple movement actually aids their development.

The Basket

The aim of the treasure basket is to have as many “non-toy” like items as possible, Ideally, they should be made of natural items such as wooden spoons, pine cones and large seashells, etc. The basket itself should be large and shallow. Goldschmied recommended a basket of 30cm diameter and 10 cm deep. In our baby classes we use Montessori baskets found here from amazon If you don’t have a basket you can always use a box or other form of basket.

The Treasure

You probably have many items at home around the house already to start a treasure basket at home. Try to avoid plastic to give your baby as much variety of textures and really get a sensory-rich experience when exploring the items. Always look for choking risks, rough surfaces etc and make sure your items are safe to be put in babies’ mouth.

At Bloom Baby Classes favorite items seem to be wooden nail brushes, large pine cones, wooden spoons and hair doughnuts! Brisly brushes work well and scented lavender bags to awaken their sense of smell. We also add a ball into our baskets as babies seem to love anything spherical. Try to aim for around 20-25 items in your basket to keep your baby entertained whilst you sit back with a cup of tea and watch them explore!

Here is my recommended list of must have items for your home treasure basket:

• wooden spoons

• large ball

• large feather

• ribbons or teether ribbon

• lavender bag or orange bags

• wooden rattle or shaker

• hair bun doughnut

• wooden forks and knives

• metal spoon

• pastry brushes

• wooden nail brushes

• sponges

• honey drizzle

• egg cups

• small sensory bottle

*Please note these type of activities should always be closely supervised never leave a baby alone with a treasure basket.

I hope this inspires you at home to make your own basket and please share pictures of yours at home.