The weather here in Oklahoma has been beautiful lately! The sun has finally been shinning on a regular basis. The mornings are cool and the afternoons are hot.
All of this has been making me CRAVE more time outside!
Thankfully little man LOVES being outside as well...
But we live in an apartment and therefore have no back yard.
We do however have a small porch.
So I started trying to think of some fun things we could do and play with on the back porch.
The first thing I decided to get for him was a sand box. So I started looking around at some stores and on the internet. After some searching I realized that there are not a ton of options for sand boxes out there. They have some cool mixtures of sand and water tables but they are all too tall and a little too mature for Jack. I found the classic green turtle sand box but it was a little too big for our porch and was more than I really wanted to pay.
So I started thinking a little outside the box (pun intended...hehe)
And here is finally what I came up with.....
Jack's new sand box
I used a plastic under the bed container that has an attached lid for the sand box itself. It is perfect for our back porch! It is low enough to the ground so Jack can reach it and long enough that if he wants to actually sit in it to play he can. I also love that it has a lid so when we are finished playing I can close it up...no kitties using this sand box!
Jack wasn't too sure about it at first...this is his 'but mom it is dirty!' look.
...but in no time he was digging right in...
...and trying out how it taste...
GROSS right!?!?
I gave him a shovel and a few of his toys to play with and he had a blast!
Want to know the absolute best part about this sand box?
It cost me...
$7!
Amazing huh!?!
How did I get it for so cheap? I had mentioned to my mom a few weeks ago my idea for Jack's sand box. Well when she came to visit me this past week she brought along the container for me to have...isn't she just wonderful! So all I had to buy for this sand box was the sand. I bought two bags of play sand from Wal-Mart ($3.67 a bag), dumped them into the container and PRESTO! Instant sand box!
Now if you don't just have an extra under the bed tote laying around the house, or a fabulous mother who will give you one; check out your local thrift store. My mom actually originally got this tote at the thrift store for only $1.99! Pretty awesome!
If you still don't have any luck at the thrift store check out wal-mart or target, they usually have them for around $10-$20. Which is still cheaper than the $40-$60(or possibly more) you would spend on a turtle sand box.
The last thing I bought to make Jack's sand box area complete was the mat you see in the pictures. Our back patio is of course concrete- which can be very painful on a baby's knees. So I found this adorable mat at Target for $2.50! What a deal!
Have fun playing outside this summer! I know we will!!!
All of this has been making me CRAVE more time outside!
Thankfully little man LOVES being outside as well...
But we live in an apartment and therefore have no back yard.
We do however have a small porch.
So I started trying to think of some fun things we could do and play with on the back porch.
The first thing I decided to get for him was a sand box. So I started looking around at some stores and on the internet. After some searching I realized that there are not a ton of options for sand boxes out there. They have some cool mixtures of sand and water tables but they are all too tall and a little too mature for Jack. I found the classic green turtle sand box but it was a little too big for our porch and was more than I really wanted to pay.
So I started thinking a little outside the box (pun intended...hehe)
And here is finally what I came up with.....
Jack's new sand box
I used a plastic under the bed container that has an attached lid for the sand box itself. It is perfect for our back porch! It is low enough to the ground so Jack can reach it and long enough that if he wants to actually sit in it to play he can. I also love that it has a lid so when we are finished playing I can close it up...no kitties using this sand box!
Jack wasn't too sure about it at first...this is his 'but mom it is dirty!' look.
...but in no time he was digging right in...
...and trying out how it taste...
GROSS right!?!?
I gave him a shovel and a few of his toys to play with and he had a blast!
Want to know the absolute best part about this sand box?
It cost me...
$7!
Amazing huh!?!
How did I get it for so cheap? I had mentioned to my mom a few weeks ago my idea for Jack's sand box. Well when she came to visit me this past week she brought along the container for me to have...isn't she just wonderful! So all I had to buy for this sand box was the sand. I bought two bags of play sand from Wal-Mart ($3.67 a bag), dumped them into the container and PRESTO! Instant sand box!
Now if you don't just have an extra under the bed tote laying around the house, or a fabulous mother who will give you one; check out your local thrift store. My mom actually originally got this tote at the thrift store for only $1.99! Pretty awesome!
If you still don't have any luck at the thrift store check out wal-mart or target, they usually have them for around $10-$20. Which is still cheaper than the $40-$60(or possibly more) you would spend on a turtle sand box.
The last thing I bought to make Jack's sand box area complete was the mat you see in the pictures. Our back patio is of course concrete- which can be very painful on a baby's knees. So I found this adorable mat at Target for $2.50! What a deal!
Have fun playing outside this summer! I know we will!!!
It looks precious!!
ReplyDeleteooo I should try this for our apartment....we dont have any outdoor space at all
ReplyDelete