Just back from the shops and for the princely sum of £30 I came home with the following things :-
Sets of things each in a drawstring bag (x 4)
: 72 Wooden Dolly Pegs
: 45 small square Bricks
: 27 Rubber Tennis Balls
: 20 Twine Ball things
Containers
: Three Wicker Wastebaskets
: Three Posh Cream Plastic Medium Size Crates
: Three very cheap clear small boxes with lids
Misc Odd Stuff
: Small Bamboo Bowl
: Cream Plastic upright cutlery container
: Blue Desk Tidy with long shallow indentations in it.
: Small Metal Cat Bowl with rubber edging
: Pink Metal CD Rack
: Set of four leather coasters
And why did I do that, what are they for I hear you ask....Heuristic Play I reply
DD has always been attached to odd things, in fact her favourite toy at the moment is a set of 35 dolly pegs in a plastic pencil case.
We recently arrived at our local parent group and when I unwrapped my DD from my back, realized she still clutching the wooden curtain rings she was playing with a home. I thought she had dropped them on the floor when I picked her up.
Last week we came home with a (paid for) wooden pastry brush from Tescos and this has kept her quiet for weeks !!!
But I discovered I am not a lapse mum, I'm doing heuristic play.....apparently. So I bought a book about it called 'Developing Play for the Under 3's' by Anita M Hughes and read up on the proper way to do it.
There are two main ideas in this book, Treasure Baskets are for younger babies and heuristic play with multiple objects is for older children, my daughter falls in the middle age wise however she should get things out of each type of play.
The Treasure Basket, needs a suitable basket (Duhh) and 80 to 100 carefully selected objects, which will take a while to collect but I do intend to have a go.
Where as the multiple object Heuristic play, involves giving the child access to several different types of 'sets' , 'containers' and 'misc' items and allow them to play without adult interference but with supervision. Each set should be around 50 items, so a couple of my 'sets' are low but I want to see how my DD reacts to these objects before going mad spending more money.
I hope she enjoys them, as I have plans to buy, feathers, jar lids, sets of keys, curtain rings and mug trees and tubes and rubber coasters and so many other things.
I'll can not wait until we have time to sit down to play with these new stuff, I hope she likes them ;)