Oatmeal Table = FUN

I have two little boys and live in Oregon. Which means A LOT of wet weather and A LOT of boy energy to burn inside my small house. Not always a good combination. I'm always looking for something fun, safe and entertaining to keep them busy.

One of my friends had created a bean box for her son. Just a regular cardboard box with dried beans in it to act as a indoor sandbox of sorts. A great idea I thought, but didn't love the fact that the beans would scatter and fly throughout the house on my hardwood floors or of the possibility my young kids could choke on the beans. I've heard of rice also, but again same results. 

So I came up with the idea of oatmeal! Brilliant I thought! The large whole oat oatmeal. Light, cheap, scoop-able and does not scatter! When my oldest son was little we just used the oatmeal in a cardboard box with some cups and spoons and he had a blast. However for my youngest I had another brainstorm! What about those sand/water outdoor play tables! YES!

So Santa brought a water table for my son's first Christmas and it was filled with oatmeal not water! The table is lightweight and portable and has a few small activities to use with the oatmeal. And the best part is that once Summer hits, the table will move outside and be used with water! I did my research and found a table I thought could be utilized best with the oatmeal and still fun with water too!

Here is the table:

And here it is in oatmeal action:

Now yes this can be messy. The kids are after all having a great time, and well mine are 1 and 3 so it is a lot of fun to dump the oatmeal outside the table as well. However it is nothing that a good vacuum won't clean up. And well sometimes the mess is worth the few moments of quiet Mom time.