Indoor use for sand/water table??

[4Marmalade]

It's fall so that means time to clean up all the outdoor toys and put them away before the snow comes. I will be bringing in the picnic table for my 27 month old twins to use as a drawing/craft table. I was wondering if there would be any use for the sand/water table inside. We don't have a lot of room so if we would only use it once in a while it wouldn't be worth it. And it can't be for really messy things. I already have enough messes with the two of them getting into trouble. Any ideas?

[hildare]

how are they with dried beans? you could make a montessori style measuring/scooping/filling station if they wouldn't say, put the beans in their nostrils and the like.

[tzs]

i do water but my favorite non-aquatic water table activity is paper ripping. they love it and it's a precursor to cutting with scissors. you can also get colored craft sand and just pour a little bit in and let them draw with their fingers. since there isn't so much in there it usually stays in the table.

[MamaPhD]

At our prescool we have a sand table filled with corn meal and it doesn't get too messy with 12 2year olds playing with it with scoops & funnels. Kids somehow seem to know not to be as messy as a similar setup outside with real sand. Personally I wouldn't do it in my own kitchen tho!

[sapphire_chan]

Could you get a tray for putting under a washing machine (~$10 at a hardware store 4'x4' with a 2" rim) and set the sand/water table on that and continue to use it as a sand/water table?

[just_lily]

I've used the inside with just toy cars and trucks in them.

[T-man's Mama]

I have been wanting to get my DS a sand/water table all summer! Well summer's now over and I am thinking if we do finally splurge, we could just keep it in the basement on the tile floor during the winter. In this case, I think I'd skip the water and just put sand in both sides. But I guess you could do anything as PP mentioned - cornmeal, beans, etc! Fun fun fun.

[AKislandgirl]

DD loves her water table but for inside we have an under bed storage container filled with rice. I put a sheet down on the floor to salvage as much of the spilled rice as I can. I like this option better because I can tuck it under our table and out of the way. Our water table would just take too much room.

[ASusan]

ANother vote for beans, rice, etc. (although a certain part of me doesn't like using food for play). Our daycare has added acorns, chestnuts, and buckeyes to the dried beans.