Curious toddlers will love to explore what’s inside this sensory toy bag.

The large organic cotton bag contains four key items, to start your open-ended toy collection. Included in the bag is:

• Easy hold, toddler-safe mirror – Mirrors like this one are fantastic for young children to observe themselves, discover expressions and self-awareness.
• Solid wooden egg – This smooth wooden egg will help develop fine motor skills, as your toddler holds and manipulates it in their hands.
• Wooden egg cup – As well as being a fun toy for role play, the egg cup makes a great open-ended resource for heuristic play.
• Large wooden ring – Great on it’s own for developing fine motor skills. You can add short lengths of ribbon for added sensory play.

The toys in the bag are suitable for children from 10 months and up. At this age you could use the bag a bit like a treasure basket, where your little one is mostly happy to feel and touch the items.

As your child gets older and more curious, the toys become ideal for heuristic play. Heuristic play is all about a child figuring out an object, manipulating it, testing out what it can do and gaining a deeper understanding of it. This type of play doesn’t require any complicated set ups. Present the toys in a clear space and allow your child the freedom and time to explore them.

The benefits of heuristic play are huge, it fosters independence, concentration and creativity. Your child’s movement and motor skills will be constantly at play, as they pick up, turn, roll, stack and handle the toys. As they test what the toys can do they’ll be developing ideas that play into critical thinking. For example if a large ball won’t balance in the egg cup, a small ball will.

You can add more sensory items to your bag, there’s plenty of extra room. Here are some ideas of things you could add:

• Natural loofa
• Sponge
• Sensory sound buttons
• Scrubbing / nail brush
• Pine cones
• Large shells
• Fruits & Vegetables

As always it’s important to keep a close eye on your child when they’re playing to make sure they’re safe. This is especially important if you add other items to the bag.