Children first begin to learn about the world through their senses. Initially, they do this in the womb with touch and sound and later, as babies, by touching and tasting different objects. This is why nannies nad young children love to put things in their mouths.

Elinor Goldschmeid  used ‘Treasure Baskets’ in her work with families in Italy. They are designed to offer infants who can sit up comfortably but are not yet crawling an opportunity to play and learn. Did you know that a babies brain doubles its actual weight in the first two years of its life and the fast growing brain actively seeks stimulus?

The items in the Treasure Basket are chosen to offer rich sensory experience through touch, smell, taste, sound and sight and the sixth bodily sense of bodily movement.The purpose is to offer maximum interest through:

Touch — texture, shape, weight
Smell — variety of scents
Taste — limited scope but possible
Sound — ringing, tinkling, and banging
Sight — colour, form, length, shininess

The concentration observed in the infant seated at the ‘treasure basket’ is amazing and unique – childrens attention is held for long periods of time as they choose from a wide variety of objects with which to do this kind of experimentation, objects which are constantly new and interesting, which certainly cannot be bought from any toy catalogue.
Most items in our Treasure Baskets are made from natural materials – wood, leather, silk, metal, glass, marble, even citrus fruits. Young children exploring these objects in their own space are extremely satisfied and self absorbed. Back to Top