Quick Tip Tuesday: Reusable Snack Storage

I really, really, really love the idea of storing food in mason jars. Particularly snacks, candies and things for baking. They look pretty and they stack well. They are easier to seal than the bags most snacks come in and are less likely to bust open than a plastic ziploc bag, but they don't travel well. Mason jars are heavy. Snacks get crushed in a ziploc bag, or the bag busts open, or it's a pain to pour into a snack cup. 

Pinterest is a great resource to find a solution to just about any problem. This may be one of my favorite Pinterest tricks! Well, at the very least one of the cheapest and easiest! 

This is a Coffee-mate creamer container. I pulled off the cover. It's plastic and rips right off! There's no sticky. I filled it with these crunchy sweet corn kernels we get from Costco. My kids love this corn but it's too easy to spill the bag or not seal it properly. If you haven't tried this corn, it's an amazing snack! Get some from Costco or Amazon (Affiliate link). It's delicious to snack on, or for some crunch on a salad! Anyway, it's easy to store, travel, and pour in these containers. 

I have used them for cheerios, goldfish, chocolate chips, M&Ms, and nuts. These containers are easy to pour. They stay sealed, keeping the contents fresh. They are light and easy to grab and go for the car, picnics, or travel!  And bonus points: you keep some trash out of a landfill or a recycle bin!

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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 activities, busy 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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