What did/do you do with sand & water table during winter months?

I need suggestions! We bought the Step 2 Sand & Water table for the girls' 2nd birthday and just used it as a sand box all summer long. Well, we need to move it inside now. After we clean it all out...what can we use it for? I was thinking maybe get some of those matchbox type cars (since the one side has those ramp things in it) and use it for a car track. That's about all I can think of though.

 

Last winter we just covered it left sand and toys inside and put it under the deck where I would get some protection. And left it outside. We'll do the same again this year. Too much inside already.

You could do what a lot of preschools do and fill it with beans or rice (uncooked of course ) and use it that way.

 

QUOTE(marieber @ Oct 8 2007, 11:27 AM) [snapback]440311[/snapback]
Last winter we just covered it left sand and toys inside and put it under the deck where I would get some protection. And left it outside. We'll do the same again this year. Too much inside already.

You could do what a lot of preschools do and fill it with beans or rice (uncooked of course ) and use it that way.


Great suggestion, but I'm looking for something with LITTLE cleanup. No way am I sweeping up beans and rice all the time...lol!

 

Beans are a good solution, and it is an oppertunity to teach the kids to sweep up their bean messes. Just get a little dust pan and little broom and they can "do it themselves"!

 

OUr preschool puts construction paper in theirs and lets the kids cut the paper with scissors. Of course that would need to be supervised but fun.
Last winter after 20 days of below 0 weather I shoveled some snow off the porch and filled the table with snow. We put down towels on the kitchen floor and the kids had a blast for over an hour.

Tracy

 

Ours is just one big box; it can be a sand OR water table, but not both at the same time. Last winter, we used it for something different all the time (cars, legos, trains, dinosaurs, etc.). But since we live in sunny CA, we just left it outside! This winter, we are keeping sand in it, since that is how it is filled right now and they are still enjoying it. I got sick of the water, and having to change them EVERYTIME we went in the backyard!

 

QUOTE(Tracy623 @ Oct 8 2007, 07:45 AM) [snapback]440594[/snapback]
OUr preschool puts construction paper in theirs and lets the kids cut the paper with scissors. Of course that would need to be supervised but fun.
Last winter after 20 days of below 0 weather I shoveled some snow off the porch and filled the table with snow. We put down towels on the kitchen floor and the kids had a blast for over an hour.

Tracy


If you go to a Teacher Supply Store, they have these little training scissors with a spring on them to help kids learn the motion of opening and closing the scissors to make them cut. My kids can use them pretty decently now, and it doesn't make me a nervous wreck.

 

You coudl fill it with packing peanuts, crunched up paper, tissue paper, legos, pieces of cloth (scarves, etc) and hide stuff in it.

I think I am going to do beans and keep little brooms nearby for them to clean- they are getting used to picking up so it will be a good thing!

 

We just cleaned ours & left it in the garage. I like the idea of using it for something inside though, I never thought of that. I like the hot wheels/cars idea. You could try to find a smaller carpet or foam blocks with roads on them to put in the bottom.

 

Being in the south, mine stays with sand on the porch. I think turning into a racetrack would be fun, or you can use it as a play doh table.

 

try doing a search here on this topic b/c i've posted ideas on this before.

you can fill it with alot of different things, varying in mess to clean up. potting soil, oatmeal, wood shavings (like for hamster cages), bird seed, rice, dry beans/peas, flour, sugar, dog bones/treats, blocks, ice cubes, snow,

I will see if my resource person has any other ideas and will check back in on this forum after I talk to her on Wednesday.

 

I think I am going to put sand in ours (we use it for water only in the summer) and hope that the cover keeps it dry enough that they can go play with it on the less-cold days. Either that or it's headed for the garage - no room in the house.

 

I was just noticing that it was time to drag, yet another large item into our already crowded garage.

I LOVE the lego suggestion. Thanks!

I just hope they don't try to use it as something else to stand on.

 

When it wasn't too cold, we still played outside w/sand until near Christmas. I brought it in the house and would do water (warm) play or bring in snow. You can also do goop or obleck(messy though). I think a lot of people like to use that moon sand in the house, since it isn't messy/dusty. I just can't bring myself to use rice/food items. I had a professor once that was opposed to using food items for play unless they were used for eating. It was her way of making a statement against all the poor hungry children in the world. I know it would be fun, but I just can't

 

QUOTE(R2cuties @ Oct 10 2007, 10:50 AM) [snapback]444259[/snapback]
I just can't bring myself to use rice/food items. I had a professor once that was opposed to using food items for play unless they were used for eating. It was her way of making a statement against all the poor hungry children in the world. I know it would be fun, but I just can't



Just playing devil's advocate....but what's the difference between using some incredibly inexpensive, albeit perfectly edible for the hungry, rice, and spending unnecessary money on toys that are not food, just to avoid using something that someone else (the 'hungry') can't get to anyway? Wouldn't one be better served using the rice and sending the "toy money" to the hungry?

And, does that also mean that play dough (obleck, etc.) is also forbidden, since it's ingredients are food items?

If one really wanted to solve (or at least support those trying to solve) world hunger I can think of some more constructive ways to get that done than refusing to let children use rice tables.

I suppose her real statement wasn't "let's solve world hunger", but rather, "let's teach kids not to 'waste' food" (a very worthwhile - and incredibly undervalued/overlooked in the US - lesson). I guess I imagined teaching that lesson during meals, not playtime.