I made a heuristic (everyday objects) playbox, and in my playbox I put...

[duchesse]

-A feather duster
-a bath plug
-a length of chain
-a wooden nail brush
-a couple of silicone egg poachers (not that "natural" I know, but she likes them)
-a couple of old fashioned pegs
-a rubber tea towel holder thing of the kind you stick the corner of the towel into
some rubber cane ends
-a small steel balti dish
-a silicone pastry brush
-a wooden door stop
-a small whisk
-a couple of pieces of knitted cotton
-a small ball of cotton yarn
-a small basket
-a cork
-a bamboo sushi mat
-a steel spiral egg cup

I'm wondering what else I could put in. Any ideas gratefully received please! This morning she started raiding the food mixer cupboard to add to her collection.

How about:

• a wooden spoon
• something squashy? A stress ball or something similar? Not sure that's an every day object.
• a piece of ribbon (satiny kind)
• a small hairbrush

A loofah?
A natural sponge?

Ours at preschool has loofahs, pine cones, keys, a teeny wooden box with a slot in it, a cork backed coaster, piece of drift wood.

Then we add seasonsal stuff like dried leaves and conkers.

The silicon pasrty brush is often the most popular!

A furniture wheel
Some curtain tassels
A piece of net curtain
An old remote control.

A nail brush

cardboard box.
a tube or two.
plastic bottle with something rattly in.
or a treacle tin with a marble in ( well sealed)

A square of silk or velvet.
Some large buttons and a shoelace.
A tea strainer.

Did something similar for DD:
Wooden back massager
Bottle opener ( not one she can hurt herself with)
Silicone pastry brush
Ribbon (tied in a knot)
Wooden spoons
Little squeaky mouse toy
Denim headband (came free with a dress and I refused to put it on her)
Nail brush
Plastic rings
Shaker
Clacker thingy
Bells

A little mirror
A water bottle with coloured water and glitter (current favourite!)

I have one for DD. Things she likes are

pastry brush (not silicone)
pastry brush (silicone)
Tumble dryer ball
Small metal bowl (for banging)
Egg wisk
wooden spoon
Starfish
Baby hairbrush
piece of coral
Wooden back massager

a container with rice in it to shake about

an orange

Shells

Did one a few years back for DD!

Oh, I wanted to do one too. Have got some pine cones and shells already collected and waiting. Very good ideas above.

May I ask how old your children were when you gave them the baskets to play with, please?

I did one for DS3 when he was about 5 months & he still loves it at 10 months. I rotate the objects so he doesn't get bored.

Oops, better get moving then. My daughter will be nine months soon! Mind you I give her individual objects to keep her occupied (pastry brush is a favourite), but not the whole collection. Thanks.

I used to have several of these dotted about the house for whenever I needed to keep DD occupied for a few minutes. Don't worry about having lots of items, and rotate them to keep the interest.

A survival blanket is great; one of the light silver or gold blankets that go all crinkly and make a rustling sound (Outdoors shops do them - although we got ours from a 99p shop)

A metal plug on a metal beaded chain keeps my ds occupied for up to 40 mins (dh accidently snapped it off from the bath). He is fascinated by the weight and texture and likes to drop it, pick it up, finger it and post it in random places

Silicon egg whisk / pastry brush