The Treasure Basket, A Game For Babies – Being Parents

From 6 to 12 months, babies begin to sit up and develop motor skills and coordination. From kindergarten, or from home, we can offer them a free play and exploration activity: the treasure basket.

The treasure basket, a game for babies

The treasure basket is a play proposal designed by the English educator Elinor Goldschmied, intended for babies from 6 to 12 months old. It consists of a basket filled with different objects and materials that babies can explore, manipulate and play with freely. Thanks to the treasure basket, the 5 senses of perception are favored.

The choice of objects, materials and textures that we include in the basket is very important. These elements are the key to achieving the goal of the game, which is to stimulate, strengthen and develop the senses of the little ones :

• Touch (shape, weight, temperature, texture, etc.)
• Smell and taste (diversity and variety of aromas and flavors)
• Hearing (ringing, percussion, rubbing, cracking, no sound, etc.)
• The view (colors, shapes, etc.)

Create your own treasure basket

Making a treasure basket is not complicated. We just need a chest and everyday items that we have in our preschools or homes.

The basket should be low, preferably wicker and without handles. We will put around 50 or 60 objects, more or less, of different materials: wood, fabric, wool, metal, leather, cardboard, paper, etc. You can also place natural objects, such as fruits, seashells, cork, etc.

According to Elinor Goldschmied, purchased plastic objects and toys should not be used. They produce a bad sensory experience and children quickly lose interest in them.

It is recommended to renew, increase or replace the objects from time to time, so that the experience is more rewarding and the children do not lose their interest. Of course, health and safety must be taken into account.

Then, here are some of the materials that can constitute the treasure basket according to its creator:

• Natural objects : stones, shells, pineapples, cork, feathers, apples …
• Objects in natural materials : ball of wool, shoe brush, makeup brush …
• But also wooden objects : spoon, clothespins, ratchet, tambourine, pepperbox …

• Metal objects : spoon, keys, harmonica …
• Leather, fabric, rubber, skin objects: leather handbag, ball, fabric bags with scents …
• And finally the paper and cardboard objects : notebook, cardboard cylinders, varnished paper, postcards with familiar images …

What the treasure basket promotes

Thanks to the variety of objects and materials that babies handle while playing, the development of the following aspects is promoted:

• Motor exercises. Fine motor skills, when handling objects, and gross motor skills are both promoted, through movement to reach distant objects.
• Curiosity. The baby chooses and performs different exploration activities, without the adult intervening. Everyone expresses their preferences and their differences in “doing with materials”.

• Stimulation and development of the senses. The baby examines objects, sucks them, handles them, hits them… This is how he discovers their weight, size, shape, texture, sound, smell…

• Improved types of coordination : eyes-hands-mouth-hands, as well as balance.
• Development of their ability to concentrate. The little ones spend long periods of time absorbed by the basket. They examine, manipulate, suck, hit or listen to the sounds emitted by different objects.

Role of educators or adults

The role of the educator or adult is to ensure safety and to observe carefully. A look, a small gesture of affection or a smile is enough to initiate contact with the baby and give him a feeling of security and freedom so that he can enjoy the discovery.

Although it is difficult, we adults should not interfere. We shouldn’t offer them items or help them hold them properly, and according to their creator, we shouldn’t encourage dialogue either, as it distracts them from the game.

Additionally, the preverbal sounds babies make while playing are an important part of the language development process. We should only intervene if we find that the child can really hurt himself.

When we find that the baby is tired or has lost interest, we remove the basket and put it away. It is not necessary to set an estimated playing time. The time is decided by each child.

At the beginning of the article, we said that the treasure basket is recommended for babies from 6 to 12 months old. From 12 months, up to 24 months and even more, there is another very interesting game experience to discover and explore freely: heuristic play.