Double Duty Toy Container
- What: Rubbermaid Outdoor Patio Storage Bench
- When: When toys take over outside
- Why: Keep toys in your yard corralled
- Where: Amazon
I added this outdoor storage bench to my wishlist, and lo and behold! It arrived one year for the holidays. Now I have no idea how I ever lived without it.
It has enough room for two people to sit with room leftover, and three in a pinch. I can sit on it with all three of my (youngish) kids. It far exceeds my expectations given the price and materials.
It hoses off easily and resist all the weather we’ve had, including rain, snow, and moderate heat. If my kids don’t cover it in stuff, I can sit on it without worrying about scorching my legs in the summer or sticking to it in wetter, colder months.
Leaves and other debris do get stuck in the hinge for the lid, especially in winter. Ours sits under a bush (I learned my lesson and moved it out from under the trees in the fall). Based on what I remove by running my finger along the gap, I suspect most of the debris comes from my kids dumping sand, dirt, and other outdoor things on top of it. It fits them perfectly at table height when they stand, and they can’t resist using it for their play.
The only other issue I’ve had is that I actually like sitting on it. Despite the plastic Rubbermaid material, it offers an unexpected degree of comfort. But invariably, about two minutes or less after I rest my bum on it, one of my kids runs over and needs to retrieve something from inside.
As an added bonus, it comes in a huge cardboard box that will entertain your kids while you assemble it. You attach the sides, back, top, and bottom, and start tossing toys in as fast as you can. It took me less than ten minutes to put together by myself.
Personally, once the outdoor toys exceed the capacity of this box, I feel we need to cull some. It isn’t quite big enough for the lid to close over our Spiderman hopper ball (the kind with a handle meant for kids to sit on and bounce), but I deflated it and solved that issue. It holds regular outdoor balls, bats, buckets, shovels, diggers, bubble blowers, sticks, and who knows what else without any actual organization or finagling needed.
Leave a Reply