WFMW: Colored Water = Cheap Entertainment

My son has more toys then any child his age has any right to have.  And you'd think with every toy in the world, he would never be bored, never be without a toy, never sit on the floor frustrated over having "nothing to do." 

You'd think wrong.

Granted, he's only a year old, so I don't have to hear "But MOOOOOOM, there is NOTHING to do!" yet (and conversely, don't have the satisfaction of saying "If you can't FIND something to do, I will GIVE you something to do...").  But I can tell he feels bored when he's just sitting and making his angry noises despite being in a sea of toys or when I have to go pull him out of something that he knows he shouldn't be getting into for the 15th time.

One day, I got frustrated with it.  Knowing he loves water, and knowing that space and mess concerns prevent me from getting a water table, I decided to put something similar together in the hopes he'd be entertained. 

I got a handful of Ziplocks, filled them with water, used simple food coloring to dye the water, sealed it (while pushing out as much air as I could), folded the top over several times and taped it with packing tape to the bag so that the zipper section was totally sealed in by tape.  Then, again with the packing tape, taped it to the sliding door. 

It was an instant hit, not just for my 1 year old, but for all of his older playmates.  Splashing without the mess.

Since then, I've had a little fun.  I've put glitter in the bags, layered the bags so that the 3 primary colors make the secondary colors, added dish soap to make bubble water that puffs up when played with, even put some food coloring and shaving cream or whipped cream and taped that to the window for "clouds."  Adding colored water to empty, used water bottles has brought unexpected fun.  The bottles are stacked, rolled, slished, sloshed, put by the window so that the reflection they made by the sunlight can be cast on the floor, on the wall, on the ceiling, on unsuspecting parents...

It's funny to think water, coloring, and tape can make for a fun, rainy day, cheap distraction.  But then again, when I was a kid, I was utterly entertained by such simple distractions.  Maybe it's time for me to under think his entertainment?



Don't lie, you kind of want to take a swat at it too, don't you?



Don't believe the look, he was having fun.