Since having baby number two, it’s been a balancing act dividing my time between both kids. The perk of having a baby during the summer was that Hayden could go outside during the day and entertain herself. Now that the weather is getting colder, most activities are done inside. Despite my best efforts, after nursing and changing diapers, laundry and dishes, attempting a shower and eating a meal, Hayden often gets ignored. Thanks to Pinterest though I’ve pinned lots of fun projects for her. That way she gets something fun to do and it requires little assistance from me. It’s a win win for everyone. I don’t feel as guilty for not getting to spend as much time with her for the time being and she gets to be independent and creative.

The highlight of this project is that it didn’t require I make an extra trip to the store for supplies. Flour and baby oil are really common products and I happened to have several empty totes on hand. I used one with a lid so that when she was done it could be easily stored until next time.
Measurements don’t have to be exact for this. I mixed roughly 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of oil. I opted to mix in a large kitchen bowl and dump into the tote but if you want you can certainly mix it in the same container your storing it in. It will only take a couple minutes to completely mix and it works best if you get your hands in there to mix it up. Plus you get to play a little bit yourself.

Hayden has a large sandbox outside so we grabbed a couple tools from there and gave them a quick wash for the “inside sandbox” and she found all sorts of cups and Tupperware to build her castles with. She was busy with it for a good solid hour. An hour without asking me for fruit snacks 37 times. An hour that she didn’t ask to change the channel every 5 minutes. My living room stayed clean and I got to drink a cup of coffee in one sitting. She built and demolished over and over and when she was ready to be done, it was simply a quick washing of her hands and an easy sweep job around the kitchen table. There was no residue anywhere and her clothes weren’t destroyed. We threw the lid back on and set aside for another day of building!
For those of you that want to really go all out, you can change up the consistency and colors. Whatever suits your little ones sand box needs!