Pinterest Things That Even Lazy People Can Do: Water Table

We bought a membership to Longwood Gardens this year, and we've been at least four times already. It's a beautiful place to visit. And it's awesome for kids. Lots of water fountains and kid level water features that they are not only allowed, but ENCOURAGED to touch! There's even a sign by the water play area letting parents know that they will loan you a towel if you came unprepared for this level of awesomeness. (That might not be the exact wording.)

Somehow, I have survived 5 and a half years of parenthood without acquiring a water table. We have tried many lazy versions - dish tub on the floor, shallow basin on the craft table, kiddie pool in the middle of the kitchen - but none of them worked overly well. Watching John Wallace's utter joy as he splashed in the many toddler-level water tables at Longwood Gardens made me think that maybe it was time to find a slightly more permanent solution.

First, I went to Craigslist. But everything I found was selling for way more than I wanted to spend. Then I went to Pinterest, and, while I loved many of the ideas there, and may ultimately attempt some version of a basic PVC frame for a plastic tub, I wanted something quicker, cheaper, easier, and, let's face it, lazier.

So, I went to the hardware store. I bought two Rubbermaid tubs, one shallow, one deep. I stacked them in the store aisle to make sure that they would fit inside of each other.

Then I put some heavy stuff in the bottom of the big one. This is an optional step, but I didn't want my water table to be too top-heavy, or too easy to push off the edge of my porch into the garden. I used about 39 pounds of softener salt (which I only need a small amount of for my dishwasher, but only seems to come in 40 pound bags). I transferred the salt into gallon ziploc bags, so that we wouldn't end up with salt pellets everywhere, in case it did tip over after all.

Now, on to the hard part: Assembly. I'll break it down, step by step, so no one gets lost:

1. Put some water in the shallower tub. (You only need to fill it about 1/3 of the way.)
2. Put the shallower tub on top of the deeper tub.
3. Put some toys or dishes or empty bottles in the water.
   
   
4. Wait 59 more minutes for the child to wake up from their nap.
5. Take adorable pictures!

This would also make an excellent sensory bin, but I don't recommend putting anything in your sensory bin that you are not prepared to be sweeping up from every corner of the house for the next few weeks. (Our sensory bin experiments ended with rainbow rice.)

And the best part of this water table? When you're done using it as a water table, it goes back to being two, sturdy storage bins. And what Crappy Housewife doesn't need more of those?

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

Let your kids sleep in their clothes. That way, when you're too lazy to get everyone dressed in the morning, no one ever has to know.

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

If you're using pasta sauce from a jar, don't waste your time heating it up. Just put the cold or room-temperature sauce on your hot pasta and stir. Not only does this save cooking time and stop you from dirtying a whole extra sauce pot, but it also cools the pasta down instantly to the correct eating temperature for kids!

(Addendum: If you like a lot of sauce, or if you like your pasta to be really hot, you can modify this tip. Spoon one portion of sauce into the bottom of the bowl you plan on eating from, and heat it up in the microwave while you are serving the kids their luke-warm bowls. Then, when your sauce it hot, just put your hot pasta on top of it, and stir it up!)

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

Squash your toilet paper rolls into ovals when you hang them up. This slows down the unrolling and encourages people (especially little people) to use less paper. It's not going to stop your curious toddler from unrolling the whole roll, but it will slow down the "yank->whee!->yank->whee!" process, and it also adds a tell-tale clunking sound that serves as an "Uh oh, the baby is unrolling the toilet paper" alarm (which is slightly more effective than the usual "Hmm, the baby has been quiet for too long" alarm).

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

The "Kids Getting Into Stuff" Equation

When the kids are getting into something, and enjoying it, sometimes it's worth just letting them play and explore the world on their own messy terms. Here's how to know when to interfere and when to let it slide:

If F (how much fun the kids are having) times L (how long it will keep them entertained and out of your hair) times N (whether or not they know it's naughty, where N is a sliding scale from 1 to 0 with 1 being completely innocent play, and 0 being "Mom just told us not to do this three minutes ago, and we fully understood") is greater than C (amount of time and effort it will take to clean it up) times D (likelihood of irreparable damage or bodily harm), then just let them play, and deal with the mess later.
If FLN<CD then intervene
If FLN=CD then the only logical course of action is to join in. I bet smearing soap on the bathroom walls really is just as fun as they are making it look.




I'm sure my equation has mathematical errors. This is just a blog, not a web comic.

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

So you bought a brand new glue stick, and after your first craft using it, a forgetful child leaves the cap off. When you finally get around to cleaning up the craft several days later, it is a shriveled peg of dried glue. Oh well, throw it out, right? Wrong! You can rehydrate dried-out glue sticks! Just fill with water, stick the cap on, and leave it overnight. Tomorrow morning, you will have a brand new glue stick again!

Crappy Housewife Tip of the Day

Babyproofing is annoying and time-consuming. I recommend passive resignation as an alternative. Move deadly hazards, like chemicals, and fragile things, like glassware, to top shelves. Then, just let the baby play with whatever is in the cabinets she can reach. Potatoes and pots and pans are the best toys, anyhow.