Top 3 things you put in a basket for your 6-12 month old?

[Newbeginning1]

As per the title, what were the top 3 things your DC loved?

[KidsRock]

bricks (soft or wooden, big or small)
books (touch feely / noisy / squeeky ones)
Mummy and Daddy (sad but true- all they need is you!) x

[YanknCock]

DS 8.5 months is still obsessed with 'Mr Chicken', a stuffed baby toy, black/white body with red/white stripey legs, plastic rings on the legs, hard plastic feet that are great for teething, and wings that make a delightful crinkling sound. It's probably more for a younger baby but he still really likes it.

I also say books--little board ones to chew on, soft cloth ones to chew/dribble on.

and copying KidsRock again, mum and dad. DS loves being tickled and anyone blowing raspberries on his tummy. He'd gladly let you do either all day.

[piprabbit]

Lots of scraps of fabric, cut into pieces up to about 10inches square. All different textures, colours, patterns.

DD started off just feeling and looking at the fabric, then she progressed to playing games with it - wrapping things up in it or laying it out flat on the floor to make patterns. She played with those bits of material for years, even used them to do some early sewing practice at the age of 4 or 5 years. Really helped her explore some of the schema she was interested in as she developed different interests.

[Newbeginning1]

kidsrock - you can tell i' m sleep deprived because when i saw bricks i thought you meant actual bricks like you build houses with. I then also tried to think about how i would get a basket big enough for me to fit in.

Thanks for all of the other suggestions. Did any of you put household stuff in there like measuring spoons or a jug or anything like that?

[moshiecat]

Do you mean a treasure basket, they're fab. Lots of items with different textures for babies to explore.
Favourite items in mine are a pastry brush, a very small basket with lid from ikea and wooden curtain rings. Jam jar lids are good too.

[JetLi]

We have two treasure baskets on the go - one in the bathroom & one downstairs. The bathroom one has scrubby gloves, pumice, shower scrubby thingy, ceramic carpet boules, various little brushes, toe dividers, sea shells, lavender eye pad thing - basically loads of stuff out of 15 years of Christmas & birthday gift sets. The downstairs one has wooden cotton reels, spindle, silicone pastry brush, little wire whisk, measuring scoops, ribbons, wooden spoon, wooden curtain rings, foot roller massager thingy - all sorts really. I love treasure baskets. The fab outreach worker at our local SureStart centre runs little workshops on heuristic play

DD's faves are the carpet boules & the wooden cotton reels at the moment.

[JaynieB]

Mine loved stacking cups. We used to have one in our bedroom to keep her amused while we got dressed etc.
At nursery they have themed ones - wood/metal etc. Everyday household items are ideal.

[HumphreyCobbler]

wooden curtain rings

ds played with them endlessly

[JetLi]

These folks have a good website for research purposes. Treasure baskets, story baskets etc.

NB - £35 for a mug tree & curtain rings

Anyone got a good place for buying just the empty wicker baskets?

[Pozzled]

Keys.
Wooden egg cup.
Curtain ring with coloured ribbons attached.

[KayHB]

Pirate Joe clutching toy from Haba
Baby Nonos Deglingos
Soft Stacking Cubes

[Lionstar]

Most coveted item in our treasure basket is a plastic plug on a chain

Also have:
Wooden clothes pegs
several small trinket boxes with lids
metal tea strainer
bits of cloth with different textures
scrap of leather
lavender bag
ribbons and rope
crinkly plastic wrapping paper
wooden honey dipper
bunch of keys
brushes - pastry, nail, shaving etc.
old postcards with interesting pictures
metal egg cup
wooden spoon
wood doorknobs
natural sponges

We got our basket from Wilkinsons, it's wide and low with a linen liner. It gets played with almost as much as the contents

[hocuspontas]

From 18 years ago dd1's favourites were a wooden spoon, keys on a key-ring,velvet material square, wooden matchbox, pasta necklace. I think I still have some of these in a special box somewhere!

[Newbeginning1]

Great ideas everyone. Thank you.

I got these for DS and i thought they would be good in the bath or with sand etc but also for banging together.

[Newbeginning1]

JetLi - thanks for the link but i agree it's very expensive!