Following on from the playful success of our Shiny Baby Treasure Basket Ideas I decided to create another purposeful collection of objects to encourage AJ’s hands-on exploration of a fascination I have recently observed. It’s a baby treasure basket for exploring sounds.
At fourteen months, I often see AJ exploring everyday objects to see what sounds and noises they make by shaking, tapping, banging and more. I got thinking about suitable sound activities for babies and decided a treasure basket would be a great place to start!
Sound Activities for Babies: Baby Treasure Basket Ideas for Exploring Sound
Into our sound activities treasure basket went…
Items to tap and bang:
- A soup spoon
- A wooden tapping stick from a commercial instrument
- Two pot lids from toy pots – one metal, one plastic
- One metal toy pot
- Two flat stones, large enough that they are not a chocking risk (AJ likes to tap stones together)
- One seashell
Items to shake to make noise:
- Two small, clear juice bottles – one with a small collection of buttons, the other a small amount of macaroni. The lids are fastened securely. If you are worried that your baby or toddler might be able to remove a lid be sure to glue it into place or to chose items that do not constitute a choking hazard.
- A wooden curtain ring with four bells securely attached with short lengths of ribbon (see below)
- A wooden curtain ring with four plastic shower curtain rings attached (see below)
- Two small plastic canisters with lids – one with a small amount of rice and the other with sand
When it came time to explore, the first items to capture her interest were the juice bottles. AJ would shake one and then the other, then return to the first. As she continued to explore the other objects in the basket she would return again and again to shaking these two bottles. They have quickly become much loved ‘toys’ and I will definitely be adding more with different objects inside that generate a broader range of sounds when shaken.
The curtain ring shakers were carefully examined.
The spoon used to bang the pot and the juice bottles. The wooden tapping stick was enthusiastically banged on many of the objects in the basket.
It was wonderful to watch her compare the noises made as she banged on one object and then another.
One thing I have enjoyed with this basket is watching Immy (who is now five years old) come along later to explore the basket herself, interacting with AJ and exposing her to even more ways to combine the objects to make noise (for example, banging the pot lids together). This basket has been lots of shaky, bangy, tappy, noisy fun!
Tell me what fascinates your baby or toddler right now.
For more sensory play for babies, check out these fun ideas;
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
My daughter loves to eat coco pops and I usually hide a few inside/under some of her toys which makes her so surprised and happy when she finds them. Then she goes searching for them around all the toys she has near her twisting and turning them around thinking she would find more inside any of them. I love to see that little surprisingly happy face of my sweet daughter!
Once again it proves that one doesn’t have to spend a fortune on expensive toys but there are items in the home that can entertain babies and toddlers for hours. A wonderful post Christie. xx
My kiddos bang on the usual pots/pans using my vast array of wooden utensils. The 2.5yo is more interested in creating a rhythm, but my 1yo just listens to the sounds. I have very old bread pans and vintage pie tins that are especially appreciated. I have a fancy can opener that leaves a smooth edge, and I used that to clear out a collection of different sizes/shapes of cans. My 2.5yo and I covered them in paper and glued the tops back on after pouring in different amounts of dried beans, salt and rice. Now we use those for our band, with drumsticks, and for stacking. My 1yo loves to shake each one and see how different they are. It’s been great, and they’re pretty, too!
gorgeous
Pinning this for when Miss Cherub is a little older, there are some great things to explore in that basket 🙂
This is a great idea 🙂 Pinned it.
What a wonderful treasure basket. I think even my older toddler would enjoy this too. Pinning 🙂
I used to make the bottles filled with small, noisy and colourful things when my first was born. In fact we still have one of the bottles as all my babies loved playing with it!
Your daughter is a cutie! My little girl also has the tiny fluff hair and will look the same when she’s around the age of your girl! 🙂
A lovely little treasure basket…simple is always so much fun. And isn’t she such a sweetie in those photos!
What an adorable little girl you have. I absolutely love this post and hope lots of other parents see it and do it at home themselves. Pinned.