Balls Everywhere!

All of my kids have been wild about balls.  And really what isn't there to like about a basket full of balls with different textures, colors, and some sparkle?  This month June's Treasure Basket is balls. 

After three kids we have a lot of balls and since she loves to dig through big baskets, I moved her things to a larger basket where she could not only riffle through balls, but stand.  To be a nearly one year old!

 

As a reminder of how fast time passes, here is Ladybug with the same balls at 9 months. How does this happen?

Arts and Crafts - Treasure Basket

We are an artsy crapsy kinda family.  I have a Honey Do List that keeps growing, a little gal who saves every scrap just in case she needs to craft, and another gal who asks every day what kind of art project we are going to do.  The boy, well, he's a little more like the only other male in this house, but he puts up a good face just as long as we play football or dinosaurs or space travel every so often.

This month June's basket if full of things we use to craft:

• Fabric - Varying textures and colors
• Ribbon - Varying lengths, textures, and colors
• Pony beads in a bottle
• Jewelry beads in a bottle
• Broken crayons in a bottle
• Styrofoam balls - We will see how long these last with a oral baby
• Watercolors
• Washi Tape
• Glitter glue
• Crepe paper
• Popsicle stick

Birds for June

Sweet June should be left out of our birds, so here is her April Treasure Basket

• Blue egg - Rice
• Purple egg - Barley
• Orange egg - Beans
• Feather
• Squeeze penguin
• Plush bird
• Rooster with straw comb
• Two empty eggs
• Boook

It's a Baby Thing

Poor June. Poor sweet number four June is defiantly the baby.  She wears hand-me-downs times three and gets recycled gifts.  The good news is that she's not my test model so there's that. 

Her March box of crap (treasure basket) was one of the Wee One's favorite.

All About Brushes

Treasure Basket - Halloween

Ah the Wee One's first real Halloween, so here is her October Treasure Basket (Discovery Basket). 

• Wooden skeleton
• Wood door sign with springy bat
• Squishy toad
• Spider web
• Spider
• Black cat
• Pumpkin
• Jack-o-lantern purse with small bats
• Sparkly bat
• Halloween cookie cutters
• Metal skeleton head
• Black lace
• Glass jack-o-lantern candle holder

The Imagination Tree refers to Treasure Baskets for older babies and toddlers as Discovery Boxes.  Her blog is a wealth of good ideas and it so happens her first idea for Discovery Box was the Wee One's Treasure Basket for September.

Treasure Basket - Rolling Along

For this treasure basket I stared off using a round wicker basket like the ones I have seen suggested, but she wasn't interested.  When I put out her regular basket she immediately sat down to play.  It wasn't broke...

This treasure basket combines the Wee One's favorite activities: rolling (things that roll as expected and things that roll unexpectedly), stacking, and combining, making music, and pouring. 

• 4 different sizes of cans
• Wooden maraca
• 5 Wooden balls (4 unpainted and 1 blue)
• Play cantaloupe
• 5 Sensory balls
• Wooden egg
• Small glass votive candle holder
• Plastic cup
• Wooden peg people
• Small wooden vase
• Sparkly blue pom-poms
• Empty tape roller
• Hair roller
• Empty toilet paper roll
• Kitty in a Keg nesting cups
• Coffee can



Mister and Ladybug even enjoyed stacking and rolling the objects.

Treasure Basket - A Day at the Beach

This is the Wee One's August Treasure Basket.  If we can't go to the beach, then we will just have to pretend at home.

• Sun hat
• Sunscreen
• Beach bag
• Sunglasses
• Camera
• Photos (2)
• Boat
• Driftwood
• Towel (snippet)
• Smelling bottles ("ocean" scent and coconut oil scent)
• Fish
• Seashell
• Beach bottle

Beach in a bottle - The Wee Once can roll this around and shake it to revel the shells, driftwood, and other things from the beach.  If only it smelled like the beach.  I guess she will have to settle for stir fry garlic and ginger paste.

Treasure Basket - Brushes

This Treasure Basket is still in the making.  I have collected as many brushes as I could here, but when I visit my parent's house I am sure to find more.  Unfortanitly, the basket is lacking wood handled brushes because we live in a plastic world despite my best efforts. 

• Hairbrush
• Paintbrush - Blue handeled
• Squid - Basting brush
• Wooden handle brush
• Make-up brush - Stiff
• Make-up brush soft
• Shoe polish brush
• Mushroom brush

Treasure Basket - The Best of the Kitchen

I love this treasure basket because the kitchen is our favorite place to be.  The only problem I have had is Mister and Ladybug taking over the Wee One's basket. 

From left to right, back to front: Coffee, Vanilla, Cloves, Cumin, Worcestershire, Cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie Spice.  I put some cotton balls rolled in the spice in the top of the shakers to prevent spilling.

Treasure Basket - Shiny Things

The Wee One is a girl after my own heart.  She loves all things sparkly and shiny.  Really, who can blame her?  I put together a Treasure Basket with bedroom items, but she kept going for the sparkly broach and leaving everything else.  After a few days, I added more of what she liked and it changed the whole feel of the basket.

Treasure Basket - Bathroom Edition

Ya-Ya's treasure basket is all about the bathroom this month.  When I introduce her treasure basket I put it in front of her and let her explore.  I don't say anything right away so she can take it all in.  After she has had some time to explore the basket I point to the object she is holding and say the name.  I will repeat the name a few times and give a detail about it.  Sometimes her treasure baskets contain small items and like any small object and a baby, I don't leave her unattended.

The Baby's Stuff - Part 2

I have been reading Montessori books like crazy and when I came to the section on a Treasure Box I realized that was my baby's Box of Crap.  This time when I put together her Treasure Box I put a little more thought and made a sound and textures box.  G and H enjoy exploring her treasures too and keeps them all occupied for some time.

• Salt shakers - large and small beads
• Babyfood jar with coffee beans
• Bells - 2 types
• Wooden rattle
• Metal measurrig cup
• Basting brush - 2 types
• Ball
• Beanbag
• Lavender bag
• 6 different kinds of fabric
• Sandpaper
• Boxes with beans - 2 kinds

The Baby's Stuff

Have you ever noticed that babies love remotes, cords, paper, and other household items?  When the twins were little I put together a box of stuff and it was better than any toy we had.  I have done the same for the youngest girl.  The box is missing a few items like the remote and Burt Bee's box with jelly beans taped shut, but you get the idea.