We developed the Play Observation Scale quite some time ago. This observational taxonomy assesses the child's frequency of exploratory behavior. You may access it on my lab web-site: http://www.rubin-lab.umd.edu/CodingSchemes/POS%20Coding%20Scheme%202001.pdf

I have a question: What does children in daycare mean? fostering?

Thanks so much.

By daycare I meant childcare. Excuses for this misunderstanding.

Kenneth, Thanks for your information but I am actually looking for a scale that distinguishes various aspects of exploratory behavior. For instance: looking at, touching, manipulating, combining of different materials, varying etc.

It depends on what you mean by 'measure' in this context. Many years ago Susan Isaacs observed and evaluated young children's epistemic behaviour - this may be worth revisiting. George Forman's work on Videatives is appreciative of the complexities inherent in identifying exploratory behaviour. You might look at Ferre Laevers' Leuven Involvement Scale.. Additionally I have looked at young children's explorations in my own work - Murray, J. (2012) Young Children's Explorations: Young children's research? Early Child Development and Care. 182(9): 1209-1225.