Having noticed that baby T has started to examine object more intently often picking up specific items of interest I decide it was high time I put together a discovery box for her. The idea is to have a box of items that she can explore and pull out one by one, dumped, whatever she wants. I choose her first box to be filled with wood items.
Included in our box is as follows:
Haba rattle (thirft store find)
wood worm (family gift)
2 colour wood blocks (craigs list find)
2 natural wood blocks (http://www.etsy.com/listing/62481382/organic-babys-first-blocks-natural)
1 wood spool (IKEA)
1 wood spatula (IKEA)
2 pastry brushes (dollar store)
melissa & doug rainbow stacker pieces
1 wood car (educo)
Baby T is loving this box and spends lots of time looking at each piece and figuring out what you can do with it. It is the only toy(s) that have been out for the past two days (ok except her new rattle ball) and she has yet to get board with it. We play with them together were I spend time talking about the items (square, round, colour, heavy, general commentating of what she is doing with them). Baby T likes it so much she lets me do what I need to do(whilst she is in my eyes view) which she normally is not super keen for me to do.
Her exploring the items is helping her develop ideas on shapes, weight of different object, filling and emptying, colours, taste (yes she mouths each piece!), soft, hard, gravity (when they get dropped), sound (again when dropping), texture, plus so much more. The activity also helps her developing motor skills in grasping, handling objects between two hands, hand eye coordination plus more.
My goal is to create more discovery boxes for baby Tsuch as a music box, fabric box, kitchen box, natural objects box, a mixed box.... the list could be endless. Eventually it would be nice to rotate the boxes like I rotate her toys.
The idea of using random items for children/babies to play with in a treasure box/basic idea is not new, it probably is as old as time. How many times you have heard someone say 'I let my child play with the pots and pans' I have heard it many times. It is no surprise that children and babies love random daily objects, they are trying to figure out their world and therefore strive to explore it. This need to figure things out often means that the toy remote control or phone you give your child is no match for the real thing - funny that! This concept does have a name, Heuristic play, Heuristic what! Big name but the idea is to give children opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of non-commerical objects.
I hope this inspires someone to try it out. Keep in mind to be close by to your child when they explore, choose items wisely and for their ability.
