Beans anyone?

I went to the store to do some grocery shopping yesterday. Josh stayed home and put up some Christmas lights while the boys slept. Yipee! What an amazing husband I have! While shopping I bought a bag of pinto beans to put in a dishpan and let James play with. (I would love to have a sand and water table to fill with fun things to explore, but the dishpan was a dollar and a sand and water table is at least fifty.) I was debating between the big bag of beans and the jumbo bag. I wanted enough to at least fill the bottom of the dishpan and be enough for little buddy to scoop. Being the frugal shopper that I am, I tossed the big bag into the cart while telling myself I should just spend a dollar more and get the jumbo bag. You can't ever have too many beans can you? After we had dinner and a couple hours before bedtime I proudly poured the pinto beans into the dishpan and showed James how to play with them. He had scoops, an empty yogurt carton, and empty spice jars in the mix. Josh was playing with James and I left the kitchen. (Notice how every time I leave the room something "exciting" happens.) James had a bunch of fun with the beans. I was so thankful that I didn't buy the jumbo bag. See for yourself.



Yup. Every single bean is now NOT in the dishpan. James started picking them up when I asked him to. One at a time. So I guess the advantage of a sand and water table is that it is not so easily dumped out. Sure, there will be an occasional stray bean or even a tiny handful at a time on the floor. I can live with that.