New Discovery: Bean Box

Ever find out about something and you think you’re the very first, nay, the only one who knows about it?  Why yes, that did happen to me today.

And yes, the first person I blabbed to already knew what I was talking about.  Apparently boxes with beans in them are commonly found among the preschool crowd.

BUT.

They’re new to me, so I’m just going to pretend that you are a perfect audience and as a result have no idea what I’m talking about.  So, here we go…

I saw this great post while blog-hopping yesterday and thought it was genius.  A box of beans as a plaything.

That’s it.

Brilliant, right?  Right.

It’s pretty complicated to set up though, so here’s B to walk you through it and show you how it’s done:

Fair warning: I couldn’t get him to keep his pants on all day, so in favor of not fighting with him, I let him win.  So, sorry about the pant-less-ness.  Anyway, how to make your own bean box:

Step 1:  Get a box.

Step 2: Get some beans.

Step 3: Put the beans in the box.

Step 4:  Put the lid on.

Step 5: Secure the lid.

Step 6:  Reevaluate.

Step 7: Dump the beans out of the bags and into the box.

Step 8: Fun will now commence!

Don’t forget to pick up the runaways.

Add some random items that can be mistaken for kitchen items and/or sand toys, and you’re completely set.

After digging around for about 28 seconds, he found one bean that was different from all the others.  My husband thinks it’s a piece of corn. I said, “What would a piece of corn be doing in a bag of beans?”

It’s been christened the “Lucky Bean.”  And thus was born the game of “Find the Lucky Bean,” aka “Oh, LUCKY BEAN… Where ARE you???”  Here’s how it works: I make a well or hole in the bean pile, he puts the Lucky Bean into the well or hole, then I bury it.  Then B calls out at the top of his voice, “Oh LUCKY BEAN.  Where ARE you.”  THEN.  I dig through and find the Lucky Bean so he can pick it up and say, “I FOUND it!” and then give it lots of hugs.  You know, because it was lost but now it’s found.  Anyway.

It also took a full 10 minutes for him to figure out that he could drive his cars, trucks and trains around in the beans.  Which naturally led to them getting buried and stuck in the beans, and then they have to dig and push each other out.On tap for tomorrow: teach B how to do his own digging.

Any ideas for other activities that involve a box of beans?  What about keeping a one-year-old girl out of the box while her 3-year-old brother plays with it?  What DIY preschool toys have you done/made?