Well, I survived 15 hours of travel with two sick girls. We actually had a pretty good time. The girls slept the last 1 1/2 hours on the plane and then were happy when they saw Grandma, Grandpa and two aunts and an uncle. Then they slept the 45 min drive to my mom’s house and were so excited to see another Grandma and Grandpa that they could hardly go right back to sleep! But that’s okay because I didn’t have it in me to break up the party.

This trip reminded me of the last time I was on an airplane. Brent and I flew with Elli when she was almost 8 months old. We went house hunting in Tennessee before our big move here. We had a long day of flying and driving and I was worried about what to take with us to entertain Elli for so long.

About the same time, my dear friend Melitsa of Play Activities was getting ready to release her book about Treasure Basket Play and asked if we’d like to review it. I had no idea how it would transform my travel with a little one! Her book is full of ideas of natural items children love to discover and explore. Following some of her suggestions, we were able to pack a pocket in my backpack full of items that kept Elli entertained for the entire trip.

A Great Christmas Gift

Putting together a treasure basket would make a perfect Christmas gift for your little one! The budget’s tight at our house for Christmas this year, as I’m sure it is in plenty of other homes, and we’ve looked for ways to make the dollar stretch and to still provide the girls with toys they’ll love. Imagine your little one’s face lit with joy in digging through a basket of objects of different textures, shapes and colors, object typically high on a counter or otherwise out of reach now available for exploration.

Little ones love to explore a new object and then when the newness is gone, they move on to the next object. Treasure baskets accommodate this short attention span perfectly because they are easy to reconfigure when your little one is tired of its contents. Melitsa’s book contains tons of ideas on different combinations of objects that you can safely include in a treasure basket for your little one.

Win Your Own Copy of Treasure Basket Play!

Melitsa has generously offered a copy of Treasure Basket Play, along with the bonus resources of case studies supporting treasure basket play and an exclusive audio interview with Mary Horn of Heritage Treasure Baskets, to one Because Babies Grow Up reader! This is an amazing resource that will help you through the transition from baby to toddler.

To Enter:

• Please visit Melitsa’s site: Treasure Basket Play and find the 8 Benefits of Treasure Basket play.
• Come back here and leave a comment telling me the benefit that’s the most appealing to you.
• Additional entries: anything that helps spread the word about the giveaway! Tweet this post, share the link on Facebook, email friends about it, bookmark it on Delicious or like it on Stumbleupon. Come back and tell me what things you’ve done and I’ll add in the extra entries for you.

If you’re looking for an alternative to plastic toys that make noises you can’t control, or if you’re looking to further your little one’s imagination and creativity, then Treasure Basket Play is a great choice for you and your little one.