a bag of red treasures

Have I mentioned lately how much we love treasure baskets?

Now that Elise is a little older, treasure baskets have taken on a new purpose.  In addition to providing sensory experiences, they are also a great way to introduce vocabulary.

Today, Elise explored a bag of red treasures...

I introduced this activity to Elise by showing her the bag of objects and saying,

Elise, this is the red bag.

Everything in this bag is the color red. 

As we took each object out of the bag, I named it:

This is a red feather!
These are red shoes!

This is a red block!

 

After looking through all the treasures in the bag, we went on a search around the house for other red items. 

Although Elise only says a couple of words, her understanding of language never ceases to amaze me!

a basket of hats

I got the idea for this hat treasure basket from Our Montessori Home.  Jessica describes this as a social activity for your baby, and she's absolutely right.  While Elise has enjoyed exploring the hats on her own, she's had a TON of fun trying them on with her friends and family!  It's also been a great way for everyone who's visited us recently to play with Elise. 

 
This was a super easy treasure basket to put together.  In addition to adult hats, I stuck in a few of Elise's hats, too.  Elise is not a huge fan of hats, so I'm hoping this playful experience will make wearing a sunhat down to the park a little more bearable for her.  ;)  Even Rosie has gotten in on the action, and she really doesn't like wearing a hat! 

I found this simple little board book at the library to go along with our basket.  It's definitely early 90's style, but Elise has been intrigued with the candid photos of kids trying on hats!

kitchen treasures

Another favorite treasure basket... 

While I wash dishes or prepare a meal, Elise can often be found exploring the objects in her kitchen treasure basket.  I love that we're able to both work in the kitchen at the same time (AND I can get something done - like the dishes!  Woo hoo!). 

Elise loves being able to check out all the cooking tools she's seen Hubs and I use in the kitchen.  (Of course, that cute little felt doughnut isn't really a tool, but it is fun to chew on!)  I can't wait until Elise is able to do practical life activities like scrubbing carrots and stirring batter, but a kitchen treasure basket seems like a good place to start! 

treasures from nature

OK, so we are huge fans of treasure baskets around here.  Commercial baby toys are fun for a quick minute or two, but a basket full of real things?  Things the big people use?  Now, that's worth some serious baby investigation.

This week, Elise has been exploring a treasure basket with objects from nature.  Our outside world has been under snow for the majority of Elise's life (crazy, right?), so it's been exciting for her to discover that under all that fluffy white stuff, some seriously interesting things were hiding.  A few of our natural finds have come home with us to become Elise's newest treasure basket.

Clockwise from the top left:  agate, driftwood, fossil, coral (not from Montana, but a gift from a friend's recent trip to Mexico), pine branch cutting, and pine cone.

A thoughtfully put together treasure basket can stimulate all of Elise's senses and hold her interest for up to a half an hour, or more!  Elise has been enjoying treasure baskets since she was between 4 and 5 months old (she's 9 months now), and I  really appreciate the way they've given her an opportunity to experience the fascinating objects of her environment in a safe way.  OH, and did I mention?  Putting together a basket full of curiosities from your house and yard is FREE!  Now that's a treasure, right?     

Some treasure basket inspiration: 

• How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin
• Counting Coconuts
• How We Montessori
• Montessori ici
• Sew Liberated