How to entertain an almost 4 year old during the winter months..

Plastic tote - free (already had it)

Plastic toys - free (already had them)

Rice - $5

Entertained child - priceless

When we were in Florida for winter vacation, Anna conned Papa into making her a sand table. She spent hours playing in the sand table, as seen here:

Because my garage isn't as warm as the parents' garage in Florida and because I refuse to have the mess of sand in my kitchen (which is dirty enough, thank you), I decided to compromise on the sand table idea and made a rice table. It works on the same idea and Anna has already spent several hours playing. She loves asking people what they want to eat and then making it at her rice table. So far, she has made omelets for the parents, bacon and eggs for Papa, pancakes, pizza, and others I have forgot. Mama and Papa get to see their eats via web camera, which is also Anna's favorite way to talk to them.

Here are a couple shots of Anna playing in her rice table.