Individual treasure boxes provide an ideal way to develop children's personal, social and emotional learning, say Stuart Hall and Carole Gibbons from Tanglewood Nursery School.

Each of the children in our classroom has their own 'treasure box', in which to store items that are precious to them. It is an idea that we developed two years ago and has now been adopted throughout the nursery, as it is so beneficial to children's personal, social and emotional development.

When introducing the idea, we emphasised that their individual box was a special place, just for them and just for the items special to them. We explained that they could add to their boxes throughout their time at nursery and take it home when they left to start school.

Parents were happy to help collect interesting boxes, and we cleared some shelf space to create a dedicated area where the children could keep their boxes and access them easily. We made the area cosy and appealing with cushions to encourage the children to be calm and focused. We supported each child when they chose and labelled their box, and encouraged them to decorate it to develop a sense of ownership.

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