Treasure Basket Treasure
Our St. Paul’s Promise talks about “scientific enquiry”… it talks about using all the senses in first-hand, hands-on exploration of natural materials.
Looking.
Listening.
Smelling.
Touching.
Tasting.
Exploring with all our senses!
Children are innately curious aren’t they?
Our Treasure Baskets materials provide an experience where learning takes place through all the senses.
Our Treasure Baskets are full of ordinary or novel, natural or made objects that ignite curiosity, provoke fascination.
Our Treasure Baskets have given uninterrupted play, open-ended play.
We have noticed how the Treasure Basket helps children explore with their whole body as they discover and find out “what is this object like?”
We have noticed how the Treasure Basket has supported children to be independent and make choices, to collaborate and build playful relationships with other curious explorers.
We have noticed how children have been so absorbed and fascinated by the shapes and sizes and textures – objects that are soft and hard, heavy and light, rough and smooth.
Lemons, Oranges and Lavender bags.
Seashells, Pine Cones and Loofahs.
Knitted Squares and Woollen Balls.
Paint Brush and Tooth Brush and Shoe Brush.
Keys, Curtain Rings and Wooden Spoons.
Pots, Lids, Greaseproof paper.
Do you want to make a Treasure Basket? What would you put in yours?
Where Do Things Go?
Will it fit?
Where do things go?
Do they disappear and reappear?
Can I get them out again?
When children are exploring ‘posting’ things into holes, climbing into boxes, crawling into tunnels, putting things inside they are working out how things work… they are creating mental models of the world, making connections and distilling the essential information.
This Spatial Reasoning is essential to all mathematics… a firm foundation for all learning in maths… about shape, space, measure… about patterns and relationships… about numbers and magnitude and counting.
We have noticed how immersed children are with posting things and enclosing themselves; so absorbed, so full of concentration, so full of perseverance.
Noticing and questioning, challenge and reasoning, practice and revising.
Such great learning, such Building Learning Power!
