Kirk blAug

Some of the best toys cannot be bought in the toy section of the store. Regular household items that can be repurposed as toys can inspire great imagination. Jupiter and I had just used up a roll of wrapping paper after we wrapped his cousin's birthday present. I told him he could play with the cardboard tube that was left over. I remember my mother giving them to me to play with when I was a boy and I figured he might like to as well. He immediately found several uses for it. First he made his voice sound tunneled by speaking through it. We have all done that. Next he used it to hit the dogs. I was not to crazy about that and advised him against it. Then he started using it as a tunnel for his Hot Wheels cars to drive through. I am sure he will find many more things he can do with it too. What are some other good household items that can be repurposed as toys?

Jupiter likes puzzles a lot. He has a lot of puzzles. He also likes to color a lot. I thought that I would combine these two likes and we would make our own puzzle. We have plenty of cardboard around because we get a lot of things shipped to us, so I grabbed a box out of the pile of boxes from the garage. Next I cut out one of the sides. Then I got the markers out. I recommend washable markers unless you want a colorful floor. Then I cut the finished cardboard into puzzle like pieces. I recommend using an exacto knife instead of a cardboard cutter which I used. I did not have one around for this project. I still think it turned out alright though. Jupiter seems to like it.

The other day, Chris and I were discussing the fact that Jupiter should have a sandbox. I figured he has plenty of dirt to play in outside, but the consistency of sand can be a little bit more fun and not quite as much of a cleanup hassle. Then I came across the idea of indoor sandboxes . I thought that an indoor sandbox might be just the thing, but the ones I was seeing were small and over 20 bucks! Rather than buy one of those little things, I remembered that we had an shallow tote that we were not using in the basement. I also thought that a bag of sand from the hardware store was probably a lot cheaper. Jupiter and I walked over to the nearest hardware store today, and the smallest bag of sand they carried was under $4.00 for 70 pounds. My shoulders are regretting carrying a 70 pound anything the three blocks back to our house, but we did put the unused tote to good use.