I rarely see packing peanuts anymore, so when we received a batch in a recent package, I instantly knew I needed to save them for an activity instead of tossing them. An indoor sandbox fit the bill!

I thought about how best to use the big puffy layers of peanuts to my advantage, and decided the material would be most fun to shovel through.

To set up, I placed a few of Veronika’s Duplo toys in the bottom of a bin, then covered with the packing peanuts. Colorful pom poms added some visual pop!

I handed over a sand shovel, and it was time to dig. Veronika loved the way the peanuts felt (they are a recyclable material, not Styrofoam, and squished nicely if pressed in the hand).

She liked the feel so much that she was soon more interested in using her hands than the shovel.

She was quite determined to find her Duplo people, since she had seen me bury them, so I helped her dig down.

Peek-a-boo toys!

Then she loved having the toys either “sleep” or take a bath in the bin of puffy peanuts.

This was a nice way to keep her busy at least for a little while on a lazy Sunday morning.