Treasure baskets are a wonderful staple of many baby and toddler rooms in Early Years settings around the world. There's a wholesomeness to treasure basket play. We have all seen a baby picking up something magical from a treasure basket and rolling it across the floor. The original research around treasure baskets comes from Elinor Goldschmied who believed passionately in the opportunities a well resourced (80+ items), plastic free basket can provide for children.
There are anecdotes from Goldschmied's training where she asks delegates to use their senses to explore an object in the dark. Her argument is that plastic is sensorially inert. I appreciate this chimes with a lot of people's opinions about provision and the resources within, however what we cannot escape is that our world is rich in plastic, and will remain so for a long time. I argue that a well-resourced treasure basket CAN include some plastic, so long as it is used sparingly. Plastic isn't sensorily inert, it just lacks some of the qualities found in other resources. It is through this variety that children learn about different materials, at least on a sensory level.
When I provide provision support to PVI nurseries I will talk about the importance of treasure baskets in both the baby and toddler rooms. It's for sensory play, yes, but there's more to this. Let's take a single item from this collection, the wooden spoon.
What is a baby going to do with this spoon?
Put it in their mouth? (containing)
Rub it along the floor? (trajectory)
Shake it? (rotating)
Pass it to an adult? (positioning)
These simple actions which are sensorial, are also schematic. Children are using the resources to begin to understand the world around them. By rubbing the spoon along the floor they're learning about travelling, moving, trajectory... By putting it in their mouth they're learning about containing, capacity, openings etc.
These resources are open-ended (aka Loose Parts) and that's why there's so much capacity (or affordance) to them. If we were to replace the items in this basket with more closed resources, e.g. a light up electronic toy, then the opportunities are narrowed. But remember that 'open-ended' is subjective. It's about what the child themselves can do with the objects. Take this set of keys...
They may be considered by some to be closed because they're made out of plastic. However, Gibson stated in his 'Affordance theory' that the material an item is made from is not a major consideration when humans choose what to do with them. In other words, children don't care about them being plastic, they care about what they can do with them. They can scrape the floor, put them in their mouths, throw them etc. Essentially, they're a very open resource for a baby or toddler, despite their materials.
Toddlerhood
As children grow and begin to walk around their space, these treasure baskets are still an essential component of your provision. The resources can still be contained in the basket as a base but now they're moving around the room. The spoon suddenly moves from being held in the hand whilst seated to coming on a journey to be scraped along a radiator, or banged on a glass window.
I argue that the resources available to them as babies should continue to be available to them as toddlers. That means having the same large collection of resources in a treasure basket (or a few) in each room. This is because as children get older they need to have the opportunities to build on their knowledge of what they can do with an item.
For example:
In the baby room they were placing the spoon in their mouth and in a metal pot.
In the toddler room they are taking the spoon and putting in into the hole in the radiator and between the kitchen cupboard and its handle.
They're developing their understanding of the containing scheme. They're deepening their understanding of what the spoon can be used for.
Just wait until they move to pre-school!
Older toddlers and pre-schoolers
At this stage your children will be moving their whole bodies with a lot of flexibility and freedom. They'll be interacting with their environment with developing dexterity and control - fabulous! What's happening with the spoon?
So in this room you have the spoon in a basket near the tuff spot tray. You've chosen to do this because you know this spoon can serve a great purpose when playing with the materials in there. On a Monday you put out some sand in the tray. They pick up the spoon and use it to move sand into a teapot. They're containing. They have been on such a journey through their lives containing from mouths, to radiator holes to containers of sand!
At this stage you can provide a wider range of similar objects to the spoon. You see, once they know how to use a wooden spoon they'll likely be able to take what they know and apply it to a slotted spoon, a spaghetti spoon etc.
Once you've got this collection of spoons they'll begin problem solving. Problem solving here is selecting a tool for purpose that helps them achieve a desired outcome. For example, on Tuesday you put cooked spaghetti in the tuff spot. Suddenly the wooden spoon isn't helping them to fill containers. BUT the spaghetti spoon is. They select the spaghetti spoon to help them solve the problem, the problem of filling the container.
We do this ourselves as adults. Just think about what utensils you choose from the pot when you're cooking. You don't grab a whisk to flip your bacon, do you?
Conclusion:
The journey children take throughout the setting should never be underestimated. Baby rooms may seem 'simple' but they're genuinely the foundation of everything that comes after. By selecting open-ended resources that can support sensorial and schematic play, you'll be supporting them to eventually engage in complex problem solving. We need to see the foundations we're laying and build on them as they move through the rooms.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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