Treasure-hunting enhancements can inspire collaborative play and provide opportunities for speech and language development as children uncover intriguing hidden objects. The treasure they search for can be loose parts such as plastic jewels, gemstones, golden coins, shells and curtain rings, or larger artefacts, that can lead to comments, questions and wonderment.
‘CAVE OF WONDERS’
One of our treasure-hunting enhancement ideas came from noticing that a cupboard in the classroom could be used more creatively. Regularly assessing your learning environment and observing how well the areas are being utilised can lead to new ideas for enhancing lesser-used spaces.
We used to have a low-down cupboard with a shelf as part of a protruding sink unit. The shelf had some water play equipment on, but it wasn’t as accessed by the children as some of the other storage spaces as it felt too tucked away. We decided to take the shelf out and transform it into a Cave of Wonders. The inside of the cupboard was painted black and the outside of it had grey papier mâché put around to give the appearance of a cave entrance. Fairy lights were put around the outside for added intrigue. The Cave of Wonders was then ready as a base for interesting enhancements.
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