Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Quick Tip Tuesday: Rainy Day Boxes

What this post should really be called is "Rainy Day Boxes will save your sanity" when it's too cold out, too wet out, or for whatever reason you just can't go out. There have been many times that Pinterest has just been a time waster, but with these boxes, I swear I struck Pinterest gold. I promise this is a really short post, I just threw in a lot of pictures!

You can find tons of ideas for these boxes by searching Pinterest for rainy day activitiesbusy bags, inpendent play boxes, quiet boxes, and sensory boxes. I've collected craft items, and random things from the Target dollar section, and a few dollar stores. A box of beans is a favorite around here. They are great for construction trucks, or for animals to play in. Another favorite is good for developing fine motor skills: putting items in the hole of a wipe box. For my youngest, we've given him coins, blocks, and other toys. For my older son, we use the same items, or mini dinosaurs, and give him a clothes pin to pinch and put them in with. You can make it more difficult by doing everything of one color first. We've also used many of the objects for sorting. The Target dollar section is full of flash cards for learning, matching and memory games!  Here are some of the things we've done. 

Construction trucks in beans

Dinosaur Dig. (These bones are from the dollar store!)

Construction trucks in beans & rainbow rice.
Fine motor skills: Items into a wipe box
Practicing threading, knots, etc.

I store almost all my activity accessories in these Creative Options Project Boxes. They are (currently) $50 on Amazon, but I have seen them for less online, and purchased mine for $20 at Costco (item# 552250). I just saw some at Costco this weekend! They are 14.25"L x 14"W x 3.25"H and can also hold 12" x 12" scrapbook paper. I have stored them all different ways though, based on my living space!

Beads, Beans, Rice, Cutouts, Minianimals, Pipecleaners, Stickers

Dinobones, Sponge Numbers, Mini Foam Blocks, 
and objects to practice threading

Paint, play dough, paint brushes, stamps

For most of the year I stored my sand and beans in a gallon bag in one of my boxes and pulled them out as needed, dumping into a container. Since it's been cold and we've been using them more, I dedicated two shoe box containers, one for sand and one for beans for easy access.


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1 comment:

  1. Rachael, this is genius! It would also work very well for grandparents to occupy the grandkids when they visit, yet be easy to pack away the clutter the rest of the time.

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