My Infant Massage Instructor brings a Treasure Basket with her every time she visits. Otto loves it and always spends a lot of time playing with it. It reminds me how important it is to rotate and completely mix up or change the items in a Treasure Basket. It loses appeal if the child is already familiar with the items in it. So for Christmas is just seems appropriate to have a Christmas themed Treasure Basket. Here are a few things that we have in ours: 

• Ribbon - in red and green colours. 
• Large Christmas Bells - we have three in red, white and gold and they each make a different sound.
• Montessori Infant Bells - bells ringing sound Christmasy to me. 
• Small Christmas Tins - we've found these empty in a cooking supply store and other cute tins with chocolates in them at the supermarket (remove the chocolates before putting them in the basket), if it is easy to open this will also be a lovely open and close activity. 
• Mini Playsilks - in red or green. 
• Large Child Safe Christmas Ornaments - not many ornaments would fall into this category so be careful, we found a large Santa Bell Ornament that I am comfortable putting in ours. 
• Fluffy Christmas Socks - for a nice warm texture! 
• Wooden Red Rattle
• Wooden Red Shaker
• Paper Gift Tags - I like the different colours and shapes the card gift tags have. 
• Red Chunky Tweezers - just because they are a little interesting and in red. 
• Soft Toy Reindeer - this is the least Montessori item in this basket but it doesn't have a home elsewhere and it is nice and soft to play with. 

A few natural items

• Dried Orange Whole - at this age I still prefer whole oranges to dried orange slices. 
• Pinecone
• Cranberries in a DIY shaker (old spice jar)

I feel it is important to include a wide range of items with different sounds and textures. Treasure Baskets should be used under full supervision and I look over each object as we put them away, just to make sure they are still safe and aren't broken. I always try to find things around the house to put in the Treasure Baskets, the kitchen is  always a useful place to look. Often it's those household objects that will interest the child the most!!

Here are a few other really lovely baskets:

1. Christmas Treasure Basket Sensory Play for Toddlers at Little Bins Little Hands.
2. Christmas Treasure Basket for Toddlers at the Imagination Tree. 
3. Montessori Christmas Activities at Our Montessori Home. 
4. Treasure Bin: Christmas at Wildflower Ramblings.

• Christmas Activities for Infants at Montessori Nature.