I had initially planned a colander and pipe cleaner activity, which is something we have done before and which she enjoyed. I set the colander up with pipe cleaners stuck in various holes and looped through the various holes, with the idea being that Isabelle would pull them out and thread them back through. She did actually started by prodding some of the pipe cleaners through some of the holes with varying degrees of success, before she pulled them all out.
In her other hand at the time, she had her beloved 'monies'. Isabelle adores coins, and often asks us for 'monies, monies', and we give her a little handful of coins. Quite often she just carries them about and that's about it. However, today, she took the metal colander and popped it on the chair and, for the next 20 minutes, she put her coins into it and then took them back out again.
I mentioned a few activities ago that Isabelle is very much in the transporting schema
and this activity was a perfect example of that. The coins all went into the colander. Then, they all came out of the colander onto the seat. Then, they all went back in again. Over and over. She was perfectly happy doing this, and she seemed to enjoy the noise the coins made against the metal as she dropped them in.
So that was that. I cleaned up the pipe cleaners which were surplus to her requirements, and she played by herself transporting her coins. Simple, but obviously just what she wanted.