For a long time (since she has been sitting up), I’ve been meaning to create a treasure basket for Anneliese. Full of things that are beautiful to look at and touch, that feel different from each other (unlike her plastic toys, which all feel the same), things that are interesting for her to explore.
Instead, I rotated her toys a few times — which appeases her for a little while, but soon her toys become boring to her again, and now that she’s crawling (and I mean REALLY crawling), this means she RACES over to whatever non-toy item she sees first, to explore it. Which, you know, means putting it in her mouth. Even if it’s the dog’s chew toys. Gross. I catch her MOST of the time.
So today, while “popping in” to World Market to buy a spring form pan, I decided to search for some lovely things for Anneliese to play with. Treasures.
And I found them.
2 painted (and lacquered) paper mache eggs; 3 napkin rings — one rope, one straw, one wooden; one fancy decorated metal box; one wooden guiro (the frog shaped percussion instrument).
A pretty silky bag that snaps closed; a tiny metal whisk; a lightweight painted wooden mirror.
And these wonderful wooden condiment spoons that are tied together. They’re intended to be untied of course, but I like how they’re like a set of keys or a rattle this way.
Yes, I did show them to her early. But by Sunday, she won’t remember anything about this…
When she gets bigger, I can put things into the bag and the box for her to discover, and she can use the spoons (untied) for transferring dried beans or rice from one container to another.
This basket isn’t intended to be a one-time thing. I’m looking forward to finding new items to put into it for her — around the house, in nature, and in shops.
World Market was just a good place to start!
19 Comments
[…] your baby is sitting up, you can create an exploration basket like Anneliese’s first Easter […]
[…] items that she can explore. The first two are napkin rings from Pier1 (I stole this idea from JoyfuleAbode). One is solid wood with a raise pattern on it, and the second is a bunch of pieces of wood all […]
Too bad DD wasn’t up in the wee hours last night, so I could have read this BEFORE I went to World Market today (to copy your idea of the silver sprinkle container w/baking soda for our diaper pail) 😀 haha!
This was a beautiful idea. Boys n girls explore so differently, this would never have worked with my sons, but Amelia’s captivated by interesting things (mostly non-toys) I’m going to have to go back to take a look around with her perspective in mind. Thank you, once again for your insight!
[…] After we got a few good shots, Anneliese explored her Easter basket. […]
[…] items that she can explore. The first two are napkin rings from Pier1 (I stole this idea from JoyfuleAbode). One is solid wood with a raise pattern on it, and the second is a bunch of pieces of wood all […]
LOVE it. I want to go to a World Market, though it looks the same as Pier 1 so maybe I will look there for some cool things for Capri.
They’re the same company! Definitely go to Pier 1 to look. 🙂 I want to go too… ours are right next to each other!
Love it. I keep hearing about World Market and I wished we had one close to us, it looks like it has awesome things there.
What a fun idea! Something to keep in mind is that many of the things you got for her, while fun, are not intended for oral exploring and therefore, have NOT BEEN TESTED FOR LEAD content. Should be fine if she doesn’t put stuff in her mouth though. That wouldn’t work with my little guy, everything goes in his mouth. 🙂
Some things go in her mouth but not really vigorous sucking/chewing. haha. Anyway, there are signs up in World Market (it’s a california thing – they’re everywhere) for several things that contain “materials known to the state of California” to cause birth defects, cancer, whatever… yeah, I didn’t buy any of THOSE things. haha. Metal napkin rings and whatnot.
I went to World Market for our first Easter basket (last year), too! Which reminds me….must get on that soon. Cute stuff. Th wooden spoons are my favorite.
oh fun! Do you have pictures? I’d love to see.
I love this! Children really need different shapes and textures to explore and I love that you’re thinking about how you can use the items in years down the road. (Forgive me, I used to be a preschool teacher.)
Just wanted to say thanks for your great recipes because this is one of the first sites I stumbled across when I started primal eating 2 months ago and I just found out I’m pregnant after 5 years of trying!
You’re so welcome! And thanks for your sweet comment. CONGRATULATIONS on your pregnancy! How exciting!
I LOVE THIS. And I love World Market. What a great collection, so whimsical and so, so much better than a bunch of plastic. I have one of those frog instruments around here somewhere – I’ll have to dig it up!
So so cute! I love all the gorgeous things you have put in the basket! I do the same for BiP but it’s never that pretty!
What a great way to get two things done! I love the idea of using things that she will be totally fascinated by to fill her basket instead of a bunch of foo-foo things that she won’t care about. Texture and feel is so important to the way babies learn!
Well…that is super cute. what a FUN idea 🙂
Thanks, Amber.