Ocean In A Box

So Being the resourceful (read: green not cheap) mother that I am,

I like to make my own version of cool toys

for my girls to play with.

I saw these really cool My Sandbox Kits (10"x 10")

I loved the ocean mermaid box but they're kind of small.

So, I decided to be the artsy (read: clever, brilliant, and modest)

mama that I am and make our own Ocean Sensory box at home with stuff we already had.

I found an empty underbed-style storage box

in the garage and thought it would be a better size

(so both girls can play in it at the same time.)

Then the girls helped me collect assorted mermaids,

fish, sea shells (real and the mini macaroni kind),

polly pockets, and plastic mini trees

from the playroom menagerie to populate our "underwater" world.

The only thing we had to buy at the store

were 2 small bags of new/clean turqoise aquarium gravel

(there was no way I was going to use sand in the house)

and 2 fake plastic aquarium plants/coral from the fish section at WalMart.

The girls (and I must admit myself as well) love playing in their new ocean habitat.

You could even make your own coral and plants

out of Fimo or modeling clay with your kids.

It is so popular with my daughters

that I'm thinking about making them as gifts

for the umpteen million birthday parties

we'll be attending in the coming school year.
* Update: We gave a few of these boxes as gifts to friends and they were a HUGE hit!* 

How cool would that gift be?

Little do my daughters know that I'm plotting to surprise them

this Christmas with a Winter Wonderland sensory box

made out of another under bed box and dry rice "snow"

to be populated by some penguins, polar bears, a dogsled, an igloo, and some eskimos!

Think about the possibilities:

Construction trucks with brown fish tank gravel,

mini horses with a stable and oatmeal ground cover,

space men and aliens on Moon Sand.
* Update: We made all of the sensory boxes list above and they're so much fun!*

Who says homemade gifts aren't fun?!