My three-year-old son couldn’t tear himself away from a miniature sandbox set he saw at a local toy store the other day. The set, called My Little Sandbox, is a box about ten inches square, filled with fine sand and a variety of themed toys. The one on display was a little farm, with animals, tractor, and barn, but there were a number of other scenarios available, including dinosaurs, space, undersea, the beach, and a construction zone.
They were cute little sets, but I laughed at the idea of paying $25 or so per box for them. One could easily make one’s own from Matchbox cars, dollhouse items, small plastic animals from a craft or dollar store, found stones or shells (or buy packs of shells at a craft store for about a buck), and some plastic plants from a craft or aquarium-supply store.
Then, do what my mom used to do when I was a kid. Since even fine sand can be abrasive on hardwood floors, use cornmeal or matzo meal instead. (Rice or dry split peas work well, too.) Put it into a lasagna pan or the like along with the toys, place on a plastic tablecloth or dropcloth just in case, and you have a great indoor activity for cold winter days. (If you plan ahead while at the craft or dollar store, you can stock up on items for several different themes to get you through the whole season.)
We set one of these up for our son not too long ago. We bought several 5-lb. bags of the cheapest cornmeal at the grocery store. So that the sandbox would be available whenever, we used one of our plastic storage bins with a tight-fitting lid. It’s sitting in our living room–not the best of decor, but our son frequently takes the top off and run his construction equipment through it. The cornmeal vacuums up pretty easily and it’s been a fun activity for our cool and wet autumn.