The Table

Playing with play dough, clay, rice, sand, water, and many other things can strongly help a child's sensory development. This can help with fine motor skills and help them develop tactile senses. This can also later in life, improve a child's handwriting.

So when my sister, Kay, suggested that she get the boys a sand and water table for their birthday, I was all for it. It would foster development, occupy them for a longer time period (working on attention span), and besides, they would LOVE it.

So when it arrived, I eagerly put it together and filled the sand side with blue sand (we're going to learn colors while we are at it). I had to wait until Church Camp was over to find the perfect opportunity for the boys to test it out for the first time. Finally, the morning arrived. I filled the water side and let the fun began.

And fun it was. The boys played and played...

....and played..

...until the mess grew and grew. Now, I am not the type of mom that "minds" a mess. I think this is great for their developmental skills, so, by all means, Make a Mess. It will clean.

It was when the clean up began, that I realized if I was going to allow the boys to play with this every day I was going to be doing A LOT of cleaning up.

I had to spray off the patio, sweep up the left over sand, change the boys clothes, wash their hands/feet/every part in between, and wash the window on the glass door.

Yup, I even had to get it out of Heath's hair!

Now, I know it was great fun and the boys had a blast, but I am not up for cleaning that mess everyday.

That was the day that our sand and water table became a "Water Only" table. At least for now. This winter it might become a "Just Sand" table. We might give them another year until we try sand and water again.

See...much cleaner.

Go ahead, Heath, pour that out on the ground. I can handle the water and it will probably evaporate before we go back inside.

Ahhh, much better.

Living and Learning,