I got into a funny conversation on a certain social networking site the other day. A few people were talking about sand boxes. Two years ago, I asked my father to make my preschooler a sand box for her birthday. At the time she was very fond of the beach and loved to pour sand and rocks. I thought that it would be a big hit.
Unfortunately, the first couple of times she entered the sandbox she sat there playing happily and managed to stuff some sand down her pants. Sand down the pants is rather uncomfortable, and this sand managed to make its way down into her undergarments, causing a high level of screeching that was followed by some sobbing, a bit of wailing, and a definite decision to exit the sandbox and return rarely, and with great trepidation. This is the same kid who happily ate fistfuls of sand and seaweed as a baby. Perhaps she’d had her fill, inside and out.
Now, I love me a good mud puddle, and I’m not too concerned about sand either. But apparently my daughter is not alone in her fear of sand down the pants. Many parents seem to deeply dislike sandboxes. At least they’re better than a box full of glitter, I said. I despise glitter. The stuff gets into your hair, the carpets, and seems to embed itself in your skin. The other moms and their preschoolers? Well, they thought that the glitter box was a great idea. Bring it on!
Our preschool has an indoor sand box where we hide keys, plastic jewels, and even dinosaur bones. Sometimes we fill it with rice or oats. We’ve also filled boxes with flubber (the bouncy borax goop) and oobleck (the odd cornstarch and water mixture). This got me thinking about all of the other boxes we could make for our kids. How about a jam box for breakfasts on the go? Dip and run! A tapioca pudding box for some Halloween-like grossness. How about a homemade paper mache box for those days when your kid just won’t stand still? Or my personal favorite, a clay or mud box. Rhinos use it to cool off in the summer heat, so why can’t we? Might help on those days that we have the end of the day blues.
If you had a box and a preschooler, what would you put into the box?