As usual, I dug up this idea on the internet. Here is where I found it. Only I substituted the bugs for the dinosaurs and a sink for a tub. Actually, when I prepared everything and showed Santino a tub full of coffee grinds, that tub didn't look that inviting. Santino called the grinds "kaka" and didn't want to touch them at first.
I showed him that it's OK to touch, showed how to rub coffee grinds between the fingers and told him that it's coffee grinds.
He reluctantly played a little, then asked me for water. I poured some warm water in a bowl, and here's where the fun started. First, Santino washed the dinosaurs in the water, calling them "tadpoles" for some reason.
Then he put them back in the coffee grinds, and started dipping his hands in the bowl, alternating it with coffee mess in the tub. He kept going for a while: bowl - tub - bowl - tub. I wondered why, and tried it myself: bowl - tub. Oh wow! That was an unexpected sensation! The water in the bowl was very warm (i didn't plan it, it just so happened), and the coffee grinds where soaking in a cold water. Dare I say, that going back and forth from warm to cold was actually rather therapeutic.
Santino played with coffee a little longer and moved on to running around with dinosaurs, roaring "rrroaaaarrrr".
I figured he was done, changed his wet shirt (he spends most of his days at home bottomless, as we are in the process of potty training, and so far the only way he remembers to use potty is when he has no pants or underwear) and cleaned up the "mess". It took me altogether 3 minutes to do it. I didn't let the coffee grinds down the drain, rather strained them and dumped in the compost bin.
I'm saving more coffee now to play again.
