Now, on to how this idea was hatched. Lately, Jax has been obsessed with a pound of dried cranberry beans, two bowls and a couple measuring spoons. He would spend a good 30-40 minutes on the kitchen floor, pouring the beans from one bowl to another, sticking his hands in it, etc. Recently, after sitting down with my phone to catch up on a few blogs, I realized he had been at it for an hour. I had to get more of this mysterious new thing.."me" time...without it turning into me picking up beans from every nook and cranny in the kitchen. I needed lots and lots of beans in something big enough to contain him and said beans, but that also could slide under a piece of furniture to be out of sight when he's on to something else. My first thought was an underbed box but they were too tall to fit under the cabinets in the kitchen. So, defeated, I headed to the outdoor toys section, prepared to shell out $40-$50 for a water table to put beans on and have yet another unsightly, brightly colored thing in my house. Plus, whenever we inevitably move or he gets tired of it, I have this huge thing that I have to find space to store or find someone who wants it. So, as I am perusing the selection of water tables offered, I notice that across from the water tables were inflatable pools. Voila! So, I got a really small one for $5 and filled it with 25 pounds of pinto beans that I got from Costco for $17. The reviews have been smashing with both Jax and his pal Sophia giving two enthusiastic thumbs up.
So, for the design analysis:
Weight: The beans are half the weight of an equivalent volume of sand, so he can use it in the house. This is great since there are so few warm days here in San Francisco, plus, if the beans last, they can be moved pretty easily.
Lifecycle: If the beans last longer than his interest in playing with them, I can always put them in the compost bin. On the down side, the inflatable pool isn't easily recyclable, like many of the hard plastic kids toys are. However, when it does finally ugly out or wear out its usefulness, it won't take up a lot of space in the landfill.
Cost: The whole thing cost about $25, including tax. Strictly comparing beans to sand, the beans were a little over 4 times the cost, $17 vs. $4. However, in this case, the fact that I can use the beans inside AND move them easily out of the way when not in use outweighed that. Comparing the inflatable pool to the water table, the pool was a fraction of the cost, $5 vs. $40. That amounts to a good savings, especially since the limited life of the product material-plastic film-seems about on par with the limited appeal of a pool full of beans. Once he can operate a computer or the TV, I'm sure the pool of beans will just not have the same je ne sais quoi it has now. However, that hard plastic water table will last forever, meaning I have to do something with it when it's worn out it's welcome.
Photo source: ©Katie Bowman
