Treasure Baskets

[Guest]

I got this idea from a book, and basically you have a big basket that the children independently access with various resources in for a given topic. Some of the ideas that I have are magnetism, mirrors and autumn, but I was wondering if anybody else has any ideas or proven 'baskets' that the children really like.

(Can you tell that I am out of ideas tonight?? :-))

[Guest]

Concepts -

I have two boxes one round, one square, they have to choose one or the other, inside are all sorts of things, noisy/quiet soft/ hard slow /fast - all are bits and bobs from the jumble sale when they have choosen something they can hold it while others are choosing then they talk about the object or show us what it can do.

Each box is quite small but you could use a basket.

[Lucy P]

We use treasure baskets in three ways ~ for the under twos each room has a box/basket containing a wealth of natural items or textured items e.g.

tea strainer, pegs, potato masher, hair rollers, shaky eggs, hedgehog balls, telequoits, garlic press. We use these during discovery sessions where children explore the items under close supervision. As the majority of toys are now made from plastic i feel it gives valuable experience to children to experience items made from wood, metal etc.

 

For the two year old children we have boxes containing items such as keys, money, hats, shoes, photographs etc, the children explore these boxes at their leisure, familiarising themselves with everyday items.

 

Within pre school we have themed treasure baskets relating to our current topic. The principle is still the same and we include as many everyday and natural objects as possible. Our current basket is 'Autumn' and contains leaves, fir cones, twigs, acorns, conkers, gloves, scarves, hats, welly boots, umbrella. We either leave the children to explore and do what they wish or use the baskets at circle time to introduce the topic or remind the children of the topic.