Can you smell Christmas in the air? It's almost here.
If you still have a few kids on your list then I have an idea for you. This brilliant idea comes from my friend Sharnessa. She gave one to both of my younger boys for their birthdays this year and I thought it was genious. Even more important is that THEY thought it was fun!
Indoor Sandbox
- You'll need a shallow plastic bin. I got a 27 quart bin for $4.99
- A 5lb bag of cornmeal $1.99
- a bag of marbles or rocks. I got marbles at the dollar store
- toy trucks or cars or bulldozers...again, check the dollar store
This is a five minute project. All you do is dump in the cornmeal for the sand, plop in the rocks or marbles and set the cars on top of the cornmeal. Seal it up, add a bow (I'm sure you can find a prettier one than I used) and you've got a great gift.
This has been tested on a 3, 5, and 8 year old and they all LOVED IT! They like to bury the marbles and then use their scoops to find them and dig them out. They make roads in the cornmeal to drive on, they build mounds for thier cars to drive over. We are talking hours of play here folks. I like that.
Total Cost for mine? $8.98
Go check out Rocks In My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas.
25 comments:
love this idea!!!
This is an AWESOME idea! My son would play with this for hours!
That is a fun idea!!!! CHEERS! Michele
Thanks for a FABULOUS idea! How fun!
Oh how cute! Love it!
I used to use a similar box with real sand to teach my kids their ABC's. They didn't like to write so I let them draw out their letters in the sand.
The dump trucks and marbles are super cool!
Um, not a great choice for a home with cats. I can see this going horribly wrong!
GREAT idea for boys and girls!
That is a good one! thanks!
yep i've been blogging about that for a while! you can change it up too with different stuff! colored rice, pasta, cotton balls etc.. to go with the season or holiday!
it is a great gift i like to include a book with it called: Turtles in my Sandbox and add some turtles and plastic easter eggs too (but that would be over 10 bucks )
you can also make your own moon sand and then they can mold their own sand castles!
That is pretty cool!! It reminded me of the times that my brothers (both the youngest siblings) would collect sawdust from any construction project they could find around the farm and haul it into the house in big boxes to play with. It was ok until it would end up on the floor... Cornmeal in a plastic bin seems MUCH cleaner!!
What a wonderful and inexpensive idea! Thanks for sharing.
Cute! And, fun! I will share this with my kindergarten teachers!
Never thought of doing this as a gift! You can also use rice and dried beans...or pasta that you dye with food coloring. We have a rice and beans one that the boys love!
Erin
My boys are getting a big under-the-bed plastic container and pinto beans for Christmas.
It's also fun to include different kinds of scoops and funnels with sensory bins like this.
This is a great idea! I'll use it as soon as my littlest stops putting stuff (marbles) in his mouth. Thanks!
fabulous idea! thanks for sharing this.
p.s. i linked to you today because i talked about your German Pancake recipe. which my family LOVED today thank you very very very much! i really enjoy reading your weekly menus, so thanks for it all!
This is AWESOME!!! Thanks for the idea for an extra special xmas gift!
EXCELLENT idea!
LOVE your blog BTW
Gayle: What a great idea. I will have to do this for my grandson. Check out this other idea for making a tic-tac-toe game.
http://scottishlamb.typepad.com/the_scottish_lamb/
Thanks.
I have done the same thing with salt and i have done it with sand too. My kids love it and so do all the neighborhood kids.
Very cool idea! Thanks!
Oh my stars - this is GENIUS!!!!! Can I post this on my blog if I link back to you? I only need a few more gifts & my children would love this. I particularly appreciate no sand! And if my baby ate a little it'd be ok. :)
I'm cracking up at the anonymous commenter regarding cats...LOLOL :) :)
Love this idea! It'll make a great gift for our kids this Christmas. :) Thanks for posting it.
WONDERFUL! I have quite a few bags of rice and beans that I could use since I don't feel like going out to get cornmeal! My almost two year old will love this!
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