Elinor's professional life spanned an astonishing 70 years and she was working right up to her nineties. Her life's work was devoted to understanding and improving the wellbeing of young children, in particular those under three years of age.
Elinor's broad origins were about experimentation and living in the countryside, and these contributed to the multi-faceted visionary approach to her work. She was fascinated by detail, and through keen observation and an enquiring mind sought practical ways to meet the developing needs of the very young.
When I asked Elinor what she thought was her greatest achievement, she told me without hesitation, 'The Treasure Basket'. However, she ruefully added that she was concerned that practitioners would not understand what it means. I shall attempt to give some explanation, based on the words spoken by Elinor, to clarify this increasingly familiar term in the realm of early years education and childcare. I shall also go on to outline the principles of 'Heuristic Play' that flowed out from this, when I was working with Elinor in the early 1980s.
'The Treasure Basket offers "selectability" as an experience. The act of selection implies there is variety and there are possibilities to choose from. The ability to select has become a fundamental requirement in this day and age.' (Elinor in conversation, October 2004)
How true this is! We only have to think about the possibilities of information available to us at the touch of our fingertips through the internet, or the possibilities of food in our supermarkets, to realise how important it is to be able to select and make choices.
What is the Treasure Basket?
The Treasure Basket is a sturdy, round, low-sided basket into which are placed about 80 to 100 different household, recycled and natural objects, which are in 'tip top' condition, small enough to be held and large enough to avoid swallowing or choking. Each basket is unique and should be constantly changing and evolving. The chosen 'items' (as Elinor always called them) should be objects that can be sucked, held, banged, make a noise and rolled.
Who is the Treasure Basket for?
It is for babies who can sit up, but are still rooted to the spot, to have the opportunity to select and explore what a range of objects are like.
Today Treasure Baskets are offered to toddlers and to older children, often without much thought as to why. While collections of interesting objects will delight and intrigue those in all age groups, the integrity of the Treasure Basket's practical approach will be distorted and diluted if we forget that it was developed for babies.
The possibility of delight comes from the richness of the sensory experience. Babies' brains are developing and being created in response to the sensory input they are receiving. Current research into brain functioning confirms what Elinor observed. The intense concentration of babies as they use all their senses to explore the objects from the basket is the visible 'outward behaviour', while on the inside the brain is alive with intense 'neural activity'. The objects are 'nourishing food for the brain'.
What does a baby learn?
Before a baby has the ability to reach out, hold and suck something, the tangible world of objects and living things is 'out of reach'. The experience of knowing what things are like is as yet unknown. However, when a baby sucks a wooden-handled pastry brush or shakes a bath chain or licks a shell, it experiences the rigidity of wood and the flexibility of bristle, the movement and shininess of the chain and the textural variety and saltiness of the shell.
These sensory experiences are remembered in the brain for further use, enjoyment and development with the onset of mobility and language. The baby is learning what objects are like.
What is Heuristic Play?
'Heuristic Play is an approach and not a prescription', Goldschmied and Jackson (1994:120)
When children reach their second year of life, they become mobile and feel a great urge to explore and discover for themselves the way objects behave in space as they manipulate them. They are like little scientists wanting to find out what objects will do, and are constantly experimenting. There is no right or wrong in this kind of exploration, only successful discovery.
The word 'heuristic' comes from the Greek verb eurisko, which means 'comes to an understanding or discovery through action'.
Heuristic Play is when toddlers want to:
- pick objects up and move them about
- fill and empty containers with objects
- push, pull and roll objects
- pile objects one on top of the other
- bang objects together or against another surface, and
- slot objects in thin spaces.
Materials to offer
It is a good idea, even in these days of the 'free flow' philosophy, to set aside some uninterrupted time (about 40 minutes or so) and a cleared space to allow a small group of toddlers the freedom to explore and experiment with a range of material.
It is of vital importance to have a large number of containers:
- Safe rimmed tins
- Tubes (such as Pringles tubes)
- Boxes
- Wide-necked bottles
- Bags, purses and wallets
Unlike the Treasure Basket, where the items are made up of a variety of individual objects, Heuristic Play requires collections of different objects, which can be stored safely in drawstring bags. The possibilities are endless and reflect the creativity and resourcefulness of the practitioner.
Some collections might include:
- Lids
- Chains
- Pine cones
- Corks
- Shells
- Woollen pompoms
- Ribbons
The role of the adult
Elinor was very clear about the role of the adult, whether offering the Treasure Basket or a Heuristic Play session.
1. The adult needs to get the material together, so that there is plenty of variety. This can be quite a challenge. How do you collect 100 lids or corks for Heuristic Play, or find 100 different objects for the Treasure Basket? This is the time for collaboration with colleagues and parents and to open your eyes to what is around you, either in your home, shops or out and about in the countryside or park.
2. The adult needs to create a quiet, cleared space and choose an uninterrupted time, so there is minimal distraction. Babies need to be 'protected' from the toddlers when they are playing with the Treasure Basket (otherwise the objects will disappear).
3. The adult needs to sit down on a comfortable chair with the children, so he or she can be relaxed.
4. A relaxed adult is able to be more attentive, interested, quiet and responsive. The adult needs to create a calm atmosphere where the children can really get stuck in with their play and concentrate on the objects without fear of interruption (by adults) or the need to be sociable and get the approval of the adults. This is probably the most difficult aspect of the session. Practitioners have been taught to communicate with the children to facilitate their learning. However, the Treasure Basket or Heuristic Play session is the 'time and place' for undisturbed thinking, planning and problem solving. How will children learn to concentrate in the future if they are not given the natural opportunity right now?
5. Allow time for clearing up. It does not take long to replace objects in the Treasure Basket, but one needs to be sensitive to 'how' this is done in order to maintain the gentle atmosphere. Allow about 15 minutes at the end of a Heuristic Play session for clearing up, so the toddlers can participate in the process. They will soon learn - and they will immediately enjoy it.
Learning, creativity and independence
The most important feature of the genius of Elinor's ideas is that the Treasure Basket and Heuristic Play give the opportunity to experience making choices. The opportunity to exercise choice about what object to play with, and how to play with it, gives babies and children alike the possibility for independent thinking and action.
This freedom of thought and activity is the source of creativity. However, creativity is about having a new experience, and this means also feeling excited and curious, alongside anxious and frustrated.
For children to learn and be able to manage the anxiety in order to release their creativity depends on adults being able to provide a safe environment, loving attention and a rich variety of materials.
The legacy of Elinor Goldschmied
Elinor has left us with a template of how all practitioners now and in the future can provide the rich and nurturing environment that babies and young children need if they are to thrive mentally, emotionally and physically.
Her practical ideas and observations have influenced the Early Years Foundation Stage philosophy and guidance, and transcend the limiting boundaries that our language imposes on the various trends in childcare and education.
Anita M Hughes is a chartered educational psychologist
REFERENCES
- Department for Education and Skills (2007a) Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham: DfES Publications
- DfES (2007b) Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham: DfES Publications
- Goldschmied, E and Jackson, S (1994) People Under Three: Young Children in Day Care, London: Routledge.
- Hughes, AM (2006) Developing Play for the Under threes: The Treasure Basket and Heuristic Play, London: David Fulton.
- Hughes, AM (2009) Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in the Early Years Foundation Stage, London: Routledge.
- 'A real treasure' by Sonia Jackson (Nursery World, 21 July 2005)
