How To: Ball Pit

Last weekend, my house was host to the 2nd Annual Fort Awesome party.  For more information about the party, check over on Kristi(e)'s blog.  For this year's festivities, we had a big surprise.  A ball pit.

When we first toured our current house, Kristie and I were immediately attracted to the staircase.  Specifically, the cupboard under the stairs.  I immediately exclaimed "Kristie!  We have some place for Harry Potter to live!"  We decked out the shelf across from the door with our Harry Potter books, and used the space for blankets and secret reading time.  We discussed turning it into a ball pit, and finally had the push to go forward with the party on the horizon.  It was a great hit at the party, and trust me...it's hard to be sad when you are in a ball pit.

So, just in case you have a great space that you want to make even more awesome, here's how we made our ball pit.

First, we bought two yoga mats from Five Below.  We unrolled them and used them to line the bottom of the closet.

Then, we acquired a ton of ball pit balls.  They are also called play balls, and can be found at Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and Target.  You can also find them online, including from Amazon.com.   Most of ours came from Toys R Us, but we were gifted some from Target and Wal-Mart.

Now, the fun part.  Dump in the balls! 

We took turns opening the bags and dumping them out.

I think I look more excited than the baby on the packaging.

Once you've poured in all of your balls, enjoy.

Our ball pit has approximately 950 balls in it.  This is sadly, not enough, but it is still enjoyable.  If you don't have an empty closet, you can fill an inflatable pool. Let me know if you build your own!


Yoga Mats: Five Below, Balls: Toys R' Us, Target, and Wal-Mart. Ball Pit models: John, Kristi(e) and Sara.


Sara