10/02/2026
A note from our Senior Copywriter Cassidy:
I worked for Guidecraft for years before I had my daughter, so I had seen a lot of (and created a lot of!) content and conversation around our products and how children and families use them before I actually understood what it meant in a real-life application. Now that I have a toddler using and enjoying Guidecraft products, I still find myself shocked by all of the ways play happens with our materials.
Treasure Tubes sparked conversation and the use of functional language. My toddler narrated her play, saying things like “stack, stack” as she placed the tubes on top of one another. She experimented with removing and replacing the lid, saying “open” and “shut” as she did. And when she couldn’t quite get her grip just right, she turned to me and said “Help, Mama.” She was using her voice as she problem-solved and explored ways to play.
Treasure Tubes inspired sensory exploration. She immediately wanted to fill the yellow tubes with yellow dandelions, the green tube with pine needles that had fallen from a nearby bush, and the blue tube with rocks from the garden bed that were tinted blue. She placed the materials inside, and shook the tubes up to see if they made a sound. She observed the way the sun changed the color of the materials and how they looked in matching and mismatched tubes. With nothing more than a set of Treasure Tubes placed on our front step, things we pass by each day were given new life and she had new reasons to touch things, smell things, and interact.
Treasure Tubes allowed for practicing of skills. She pinched the tiny heads of flowers and carefully placed them inside the tubes. She poured materials from one tube to another and all over the ground. She stacked and knocked over towers of tubes and learned about what happens when the sun meets the colorful acrylic. She was learning and engaging in meaningful development the whole time, without any special instruction.
To her, she was just playing outside with mama. For me, I was watching discovery of the world through her eyes and through a lens that working for a child-led company like Guidecraft helped shape.
