indoor play fun

The other day I mentioned that we had played with our felt board at preschool. I thought I’d share about our felt board. It is a cheap and easy project that has multiple purposes. I made Bee’s felt board when she was about 15 months old. We were stuck inside a lot in an Indiana winter and needed some fun creative projects. I started with a forest scene and later added a beach scene. Bee helped me come up with all of the animals and items to go on the board. It has given us hours of activity. I attached the large piece of felt for the background to a piece of thick foam core board we had lying around in the garage (I recall I made a cat house out of it for a stray we had one winter). It has hung on the wall of a bedroom or playroom in all four of our houses in the past three years. Yep, we move a lot.



Another great indoor play thing for preschoolers that is easy and inexpensive is a rice box. My husband hates our rice boxes and refuses to move one. I have had three now, but currently am without one. We have one at preschool, so the kids get in some play time with the one there. It is exactly what it sounds like, a box of rice. It’s a large box filled with an inch or so of uncooked bulk white rice. Add some sand or bath toys and you have hours of entertainment. We have colored our rice before, but find white works just as well. It is a little messy and does not matter if you put out a table cloth first, you’re going to find rice everywhere. This is the part daddy does not like. Bee never had this problem, but Lou still likes to eat a handful or two while playing. It does not seem to hurt his belly and it appears to work it’s way through just fine. It’s a kid favorite all around. This photograph is Bee (now almost 4) at about 16 months. It's our first box, very rough, but functional. I don't know who dressed her this day, but I do recall that she wore those Chicago Bears socks a lot, although not usually with pink.