Playsaurus · No. 54 · 9 months to 2.5 years
A step on from the basket: bangles, rings, tins and tubes that stack, post, nest and rattle.
Gather a handful of objects that do something when put together: curtain rings, a small tin with a lid, cardboard tubes, a colander. Set them out in two or three loose piles rather than one heap. Sit back further than feels natural. The game is them working out what fits inside what.
Posting one thing inside another is usually the first discovery, and then it is repeated roughly forty times. The repetition is the learning, so resist moving them on.
If they only tip everything out, that is the game for now. Put a container nearby and wait. Filling comes after emptying, often weeks after.
Nothing smaller than a toilet roll tube. Check rings and tins for sharp edges before they go in.
The Curiosity Approach, Heuristic play for babies. The whole video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT5IbaglTSQ&t=0s