Once the babies start crawling, there is no stopping them ! They want to get their hands on to anything and everything around the house – be it a toy or not – they want to grab it and explore it.

One thing all moms of babies must have noticed is that anything non-toy is the most attractive and exciting for them. Its a tough thing for moms to run after the babies and stop them from touching anything and everything. Sure you can confine them to a crib or something but for how long? Once they grow up, even this trick won’t work.

Here is an easy and simple trick to bring the non-toy things of the house to them. This small exploration basket can be made for babies or toddlers, till 1-2 years.

Just take a small basket and fill it up with stuff from around the house. Just ensure that the stuff is not harmful for the kid in any way.

Here is the exploration basket I made for Ram when he was around 1.5 years.

As you can see in the pic below, I included a small plastic plate, 2-3 plastic bottles of different shapes, scooper, hair brush, small plastic spoon, a rubber ball with spikes, a small magnifying glass, telephone receiver, 2-3 toys, an old remote, without cells and 1-2 cloth pieces.

I had a good rest by lying down on the couch for good 30 minutes, uninterrupted. There was no more worrying to do – where he might be heading off to next or what he must have got his hands on to!!

It was so exciting and fun to call papa in office 🙂

Once he was done exploring the basket, I guided him to put all the stuff back into the basket. Eventually, its good to teach them “clean-up” from an early stage. Make it look like a game and you are good to go !!

So, here is a cute and simple activity for little monsters ! It took me hardly anytime to pick stuff around and throw it in the basket. For the next time, put some new stuff in the basket.

Happy exploring for the little ones !!

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