Play objects continued

As per Jessica's request for a shopping list.
Head to Ikea, Japan Home (HK), or any supermarket or store like Thingz (Western Australia).
When looking for play objects for your infant, remember to check out RIE literature such as Dear Parent, by Magda Gerber. She shared a lot there. But as far as providing interesting objects for my children, of mixed ages, both in the classroom and at home, here they are.

Think safety first. Not having pieces, not being able to swallow, not too heavy and not sharp and not toxic!
Think texture!

• Stainless steel bowls, not to large, different sizes. The reflective light is fascinating to my children. The sound it makes when tapped on hard surface is a great surprise.
• Silicon in different shapes. Think oven mit, place mats. My 6 month old holds the flat square place mat and uses his hand to open and close it. He can watch it for ages. He also seems to enjoy the challenge of picking this flat object up from his mat.
• Plastic bowls, children are fascinated with objects and the idea of in and out. They will put their hand in and out of a bowl, toying with this concept of object permanence (my hand cant be seen but hey, magic, it is still there!)
• O-balls. Toys R us do not offer a lot in Hong Kong other than a nice selection of balls ;-) O-balls are light and easy to pick up. Great for chewing.
• One of the favourites for children of all ages has been a few clear plastic toothpick holders. The smooth round cover seems to fit nicely with a little click onto the base. Place a few safe things inside for interest.
• Plastic soap dishes. My 6 month old seems to get a real buz out of exploring the properties of objects, and isn't bored with plastic, as long as they have different shapes. A round soap dish with a few bumpy bits, hours of fun in his mouth, dropped to make noise, and for the big kids, to place things inside and carry around.
• Inflatable ring, or beach ball. These should not be blown up to capacity. Just enough left out so that even a 6 month old can grasp it. It provides a BIG object yet light enough to manipulate. When they are older, I went through so many. The bigger kids would roll on the balls and get a huge buzz out of that.
• Short lengths of plastic chain, available here in HK at most hardware stores, provide a great play object. It can be poured, and is interesting like a collection of small things, yet safe for small babies.
• I had a million old "Lamaze" baby toys. I remembered my older children never played with them. I used to look at them and think, why wont they play with this every day, they are so pretty and interesting (to me)? I believe that they are too complicated, and from my observations of children with simple play objects, they need objects which they can "make sense of" (Gerber). Simplicity gives them the most enjoyment. Anyhow, these Lamaze toys did have something for me, I chopped off all of the small plastic rings, so now my babies have a lovely colourful collection of shiny plastic rings, easy to manipulate and much more attractive now they are not attached to those crazy and complicated Lamaze toys.