Never Toss A Tin

I don't know about you, but I cannot bear to throw an empty Altoids tin away. There is just something so magical about them! Like they should house a family of fairies.

I've seen a lot of crafts that can be done with them. I actually did one myself! And it was these very little tins of faces that the girls were playing with when Little Man threw a fit about being left out. Sorry, buddy I crafted those long before you were born, and I just don't have the strength to repeat the process! I did have a whole store of empty tins, however. In a hurry to calm the tiny dictator, I grabbed a few small magnets off the fridge and viola! His favorite toy was born. Seriously kid can barely part with this thing long enough for me to photograph it!

The convergence of the simple and cheap- it is a thing of beauty.

I wonder what other found items we could create into the best toy ever? 

This could begin a larger dialogue about the complexity of toys these days, how they aren't necessarily any better. That kids living in the slums of the world, playing with a rusted can may just be having as much fun as our kids with all the licensed characters and tacky colored plastic monstrosities. But such a discussion would mean pulling more words out of my head. (a task becoming increasingly more difficult by the endless stream of talking and question-asking the girls have started up) Besides, I'd rather go play on the rug with them anyway.

Some days I revel in simplicity.  

Confession: I doubt there will be any utopian rug-playing as I've had to yell at the girls in the short time I have been typing, and Little Man is protesting the ravioli I gave him for dinner... and the dogs are frantically barking at a cat on the back wall... and there are a bunch of dishes collecting flies in my sink. The dream lives on, however!