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Indoor Sandbox

This indoor activity will give your toddler a sandbox without the mess, thanks to these alternative fillers.
By: Trish Kuffner, author of The Toddler's Busy Book

Indoor Sandbox


You can make an indoor sandbox by filling up a cardboard box or plastic baby bathtub with puffed wheat or rice cereal or uncooked rice. Here are also some alternatives that may be purchased fairly inexpensively in bulk. They provide an interesting sensory experience for toddlers.

Materials
  • water softener
  • salt
  • shredded paper
  • birdseed
  • cedar shavings
  • dried beans
  • deer corn
  • oatmeal
  • foam packing peanuts
  • cornmeal
  • potting soil (if you're brave!)

Directions

  1. Children enjoy playing in the sandbox with cups, spoons, bowls, buckets, scoops, shovels, cars, and other toys and containers.
  2. A funnel and scoop that can be used to fill an empty plastic soda bottle with sandbox material will also be a hit.
  3. An old sheet, shower curtain, or plastic tablecloth placed under the sandbox makes cleanup a little easier.

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