Treasure Baskets

So I've been looking around at all sorts of things for the Bug to get into, especially with him crawling- things to keep him engaged. Being a teacher, I'm pretty well versed in both Montessori method and Reggio method teaching styles and while I'm not going on a purge to eliminate plastic toys, we do try to "go green" buying recycled, wooden, and metal toys as much as possible as well as making our own.

One thing I have run across is the idea of treasure baskets- small baskets of anything and everything for babies (most recommend 6 months- 18 months as good ages for these) so I looked around my house and realized- we are not the people that have random things that are good for treasure baskets lying around... Sensory bottles- ABSOLUTELY but everything is too small for the Bug to explore.

I did some digging and threw out the "no plastic" rule because I found a really cool plastic massager that I won in a raffle. Then I headed to Goodwill to see what I could find... I'm sometimes wary of shopping at consignment/thrift stores but you can find some amazing things!

So what's in the basket?!?(There are 3 different size and shape baskets):

* small metal bowl (Goodwill)
* small metal flashlight
* mini muffin pan (Goodwill)
* small metal whisk
* wooden D (Amazon)
* wooden spoon (Goodwill)
* wooden roller (Goodwill)
* plastic back massager
* loofah sponge (Target)
* natural scrubber sponge (Goodwill)
* scarf (Goodwill)
* decorative rock
* wooden dish
* parachute cord bracelet
* toilet paper tube
* unused urine sample cup (I never used the last one before the Bug was born and it's such a great size...)
* pinecone (our front yard)
* felt whale

So far, he loves exploring the different items and moving things from one basket to another!

Everything goes in his mouth though he is starting to explore the sounds objects made when hit together.