{"id":37,"date":"2012-06-04T14:08:36","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T21:08:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-04-02T21:45:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T04:45:21","slug":"treasure-baskets-for-babies-toddlers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/treasure-baskets-for-babies-toddlers\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasure Baskets For Babies & Toddlers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The way babies learn about the world is directly through their senses- by picking things up and looking at them, feeling them, listening to them, mouthing them, smelling them. The treasure basket, also called a sensory basket is a Montessori concept, it’s a low round basket that is filled up with various items to stimulate baby’s senses.<\/p>\n

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In strict Montessori tradition, the basket contains 60-80 items of various materials and textures. The contents can be of any material except plastic. The treasure basket it not a static thing, the items can change and be added to as baby explores and changes interests. Baby is always interested and ready to explore as the contents of the basket change. The best thing about treasure baskets is that most of the items can be found around the house.<\/p>\n

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I have a couple sensory baskets. One sits front and center in the living room where baby can crawl right over and get into it. The basket came from the thrift store and the items inside were found around the house.<\/p>\n

Most of the items in the basket aren’t “toys”- wooden spoons, cardboard tubes and pieces of paper are all good items to include. Our baskets even have a couple lone socks in them because the baby really likes to chew on socks. I’ve even included a wool hat- it’s perfect for baby to try on, to chew on or to use as a bag.<\/p>\n

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In addition to the main basket, I’ve placed some other baskets on other shelves in the house that the baby is allowed to get into. My hope was that these baskets, set there appealingly with interesting items in them would catch his attention and keep him from getting into other, less desirable things in the room. So far, it’s working! He dumps the baskets out and I come along behind a while later and pick them up, and then he gets to dump them out again. He seems to like the dice basket especially.<\/p>\n

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Baskets can have a large variety of items in them, or they can be themed. I have a basket of large dice and a basket of silicone baking cups that all stay in their own basket on a shelf. In the kitchen, I have a basket of kitchen tools similar to ones he might see me working with. The three main baskets though, are a conglomeration of items. I try to change some of the items in the baskets every week so that it stays fresh.<\/p>\n

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Here are some ideas of items to put in your sensory baskets:<\/h4>\n

Metal Items, like:<\/b>
\na cup
\nspoons
\na small tin
\ntea strainer
\nmini muffin tin<\/p>\n

Paper Items, like:<\/b>
\ncardboard tube (toilet paper or wrapping paper)
\npiece of cardboard
\ncrinkly paper
\nsturdy lacing card<\/p>\n

Wooden Items, like:<\/b>
\nwooden spoon
\nplay people or figurines
\na bowl
\nfingernail brush
\nblocks
\nsoft hairbrush
\nwooden egg
\nhoney stirrer
\nwooden rings
\nnesting doll
\nlarge beads on a rope
\npeg clothes pin<\/p>\n

Natural Items, like:<\/b>
\nshells
\nnatural sponge or loofah
\ndriftwood
\na small stone or pumice
\na pinecone
\nsmall straw broom
\nsmall basket
\ncoconut shell
\nsheepskin
\nrattan ball<\/p>\n

Cloth & Yarn Items, like:<\/b>
\ncloth balls
\nsock
\nsmall stuffed toy
\ndoily
\nsilk scarf
\nribbon
\nfabric that is soft (flannel or fleece), shiny, rough (burlap)
\nbean bag
\nball of yarn
\ntassel
\nlarge pom poms<\/p>\n

Odds and Ends, like:<\/b>
\nlarge dice
\nsilicone baking cups
\ninstruments – jingle bells, maracas
\nbrushes- pastry brush, hair brush, paintbrush\u2026
\nspice jar with a few spices or things in it to make a little noise<\/p>\n

Of course, be sure that all the items in the basket are safe for babies and kiddos who put things in their mouths!<\/p>\n

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This post was published on Muse of the Morning.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The way babies learn about the world is directly through their senses- by picking things up and looking at them, feeling them, listening to them, mouthing them, smelling them. The treasure basket, also called a sensory basket is a Montessori concept, it’s a low round basket that is filled up with various items to stimulate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[817,5],"tags":[55,554,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-37","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-creativity-with-kids","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"tag-babies","10":"tag-creativekids","11":"tag-montessori","12":"tag-toddler","14":"post-with-thumbnail","15":"post-with-thumbnail-icon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5782,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/5782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museofthemorning.com\/museblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}