Ball pit...good idea/bad idea for a 1yo boy?

74dragonfly

My son turn 1 in two months. He loves balls. I think those ball pit are cool but I am wondering are they a huge PITA? does the fun of them wear out quickly? hard to put away? Id love any BTDT feedback on them. TIA!

jorkz821

Could you do one in an old pnp? Then it's contained and he can roll around and throw to his heart's content? We don't have one but I imagine my almost 1 year old (OMG!!) would love it.

insertclevername

jorkz821 said:

Could you do one in an old pnp? Then it's contained and he can roll around and throw to his heart's content? We don't have one but I imagine my almost 1 year old (OMG!!) would love it.

Genius.  I have two pack n plays (stupid FTM decision).  I could definitely use one as a ball pit.

74dragonfly

Great idea on the PNP. we dont have snow where i live (San Fran) but it could be fun to put outside and let baby go at it. 

insertclevername

wowcheezits said:

I've heard it being in an old PnP, and you can buy the 100 balls really cheap on Amazon. I almost did this for my LO as well. Then DH brought up keeping the balls clean could be a big PITA. My mind just went in the gutter on my last sentence.

You could probably clean them in the bathtub or in a kiddie pool with vinegar solution.  How often are you really going to need to clean them though?

Pips09

Yes, we did it with our PNP. Our kid loved it, although she did still sometimes throw the balls out.

nanabanana06

We did the PNP thing. Both kids loved it. Bonus is that we had a really really big PNP. So they had lots of room to play in. Also, a pic for funsies,

74dragonfly

TyrannosaurusLex said:

The title of this thread kinda bugs me. Why did you specify "boy?"

Just because it is for my boy.

Millimeter

We have a blow up pool and 350 ball pit balls. We put a slide into it as well, and the kids have a blast.

They started playing in it at about 9 months and at 13 months still love it. I get it out just once a week so they don't tire of it.

They are able to go in and out as they please, so I'd recommend a pool of some sort. We tried a pack and play, but they hated being contained. Clean up isn't too bad, even when they throw the balls around. DH and I have fun throwing them at each other during cleanup.