It's a while since I have written about using treasure baskets with babies and children, but it's one of my favourite things to tell parents about as they immediately see the benefits of natural play materials. This week, parents and their babies, two's and three's, came along to a treasure basket workshop. We all sat on the rugs around a giant basket filled with treasures. The babies and toddlers immediately became engaged in exploring the items in the basket, and most of them were completely engaged for the whole session, up to as much as 45 minutes, while parents watched and commented on the objects they were exploring. I'm going to use mostly images in this post as they give the best idea of what to put in a basket and how the children learn from the treasures. I'll also add a couple of documents for containing ideas to add to a basket. I'll talk about the theory of treasure baskets and Eleanor Goldschmied (treasure basket pioneer) next time. Baby J sits up and plays with some objects that roll around from the basket - Mixing, stirring and investigating the sound of a metal spoon on an old treacle tin - What can I explore next?... And some images of my display of my own themed treasure baskets - If you want to know more, here are a couple of documents I put together, one with the basics of making and using a treasure basket, and one with hundreds of ideas for items to add to your basket. - Making your treasure basket..., pdf What could I put in my Treasure basket, pdf And it wouldn't be It's All About Stories without a story. So we read "Arnold" by Mick Inkpen. Kipper has to amuse Pig's cousin Arnold for the day. A story that shows the benefit of natural materials over traditional "toys". Next time... a bit about the theory behind treasure baskets and how we can extend treasure basket play with older children. And for more ideas regularly see my Facebook page www.facebook.com/itsallaboutstories And my pinterest boards www.pinterest.com/allaboutstories/