This suggestion came from my friend Sunny on a rainy day. “You put a boy in a small bucket and see how long it takes for him to get himself out,” she explained. “In this case, he wanted to stay in there.”
In fact, he has a history of squeezing his way into several other containers, too.
Seriously, a new container that your child has never seen might inspire some imaginative play that allows you to ignore him and focus on reading clever web sites.
Other ideas now that you have the bucket out?
Put toys in the bucket. Let him eat a snack in the bucket. Turn the bucket over and stack blocks on it. Hide something under it. Decorate it with sticky notes. Roll it on the kitchen floor.
I like to put Holden in a laundry basket while I’m nearby folding clothes or packing a suitcase. He seems mystified by it and quite content… I don’t know why he hasn’t figured out how to get out yet. I’m sure that’s just a matter of time (like as soon as I leave the room, he’ll topple out).
HOW cute
My son recently discovered a 5 gallon bucket we had outside. The builder was using it to haul water and sand for mixing concrete. Dorian thought it was great fun to drop sticks into it and then turn the bucket over to dump them out again! He stayed busy for nearly half an hour with that (which is a long time for an 18 month old!)