I am now using my creative energy for good, not evil. Let me introduce you to...the bean pool.
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
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