TickiT® Wooden Treasures have been developed as an open-ended creative resource that satisfies a child’s natural capacity for play,
allowing them to explore, learn and investigate freely. The beautifully grained wooden shapes are inspired by nature and discovery,
the organic colours will blend well with the outdoor environment and natural resources,
and the smooth tactile wood is compelling to handle and manipulate.
Sensory
Our Wooden Treasures are sanded to a clean smooth finish. They are beautifully tactile and have very different shape characteristics, ideal for using in a sensory match game by placing all the objects in a bag and trying to find matching pairs. Alternatively keep one of each shape out on a table and trying to find its match inside the bag by touch alone.
The colours used in our Wooden Treasures sets are soft and gentle, and as the wood is not bleached prior to the colour application this highlights the varied characteristics and grains of the natural wood material.
The sound of natural wooden objects as they tumble together on a table, rumble around in a bowl or shake up inside a bag is quite unique and can’t be imitated by man-made objects. The softness of the wood makes a clear but gentle clatter, ideal for children who may appreciate more subtle auditory stimulation.
Pattern making
The individual pieces have all been carefully designed with flattened bases to allow them to stand upright. This will allow children to delve into the wonderful world of pattern-making.
A popular idea to try is to create a mandala pattern. The concept of mandala design is simple: to start with an important central piece and create a geometric circular pattern around it, spreading out as far as there is space, time and resources. Mandalas are found in nature (snowflakes, flowers, shells) but are also fun to create from a mixture of natural resources, such as pine cones, leaves or pebbles, mixed with the beautiful colours of our Wooden Treasures. It can be a wonderful way to achieve mindfulness.
Logic and reasoning
Small wooden counters in a variety of shapes and colours are the perfect resource for developing mathematical aptitude, naturally lending themselves to the core skills required for counting, sorting and sequencing.
- Counting out physical objects helps reinforce the relationship between numbers and their meaning.
- Sorting or ordering is a great activity when a large mixed set of counters is available, children can sort by colour (all reds, all blues etc) or shape (all acorns, all discs), but this can be made more challenging for older children, for example to sort by lightest or darkest colours or order by height of shape.
Using the Wooden Treasures in a line or grid can be a fun and engaging way to help children understand more complex mathematical processes, such as addition, subtraction and even multiplication and division.
- If we have 6 mushrooms and take away 2, how many are left?
- Place 3 acorns across the top of the page and repeat to make 4 rows = 12 acorns in total.
Imaginative play
The limitless possibilities of small world play can help children to explore their creativity, which in turn helps develop descriptive language skills: can your giant teddy bear tread the slippery purple stepping-stone path across the raging blue river, all the way to the golden nugget treasure trove?
Adding the Treasures to role play is easy as the shapes can be interpreted as almost anything. Gems, magic keys, special characters, spaceships, coins, eggs or sand timers.
Using the different shapes and colours, children can recreate an enchanted forest scene. The sets include shapes that can obviously be used as stones, boulders, trees, acorns and mushrooms, but what about the secret amber fairy rings? Or the charmed rubies from the mystic castle treasure chest? Stories and adventures are there to be created and explored.
Physical & emotional skills
Playing with small physical objects requires patience, concentration, fine motor skills and coordination. Children soon learn to slow down, take their time with the selection and positioning of the Treasures, and how quietly eliminate distractions.
Many of the shapes can be used for roll or spinning which is great to encourage dexterity and coordination in children.
The colours chosen for the Treasures are said to symbolise different senses or emotional characteristics. It may be interesting to observe if children are drawn to particular colours or shades, depending on their moods:
- Red = strength, energy, love
- Orange = creativity, self-awareness, transformation
- Yellow = wisdom, learning, happiness
- Green = physical healing, nature, caring
- Blue = emotional healing, calm, inner peace
- Purple = spirituality
- Brown = stability, comfort
