As the battle with quarantine rages, I’ve been searching high and low for solutions to the boredom that is filling our house. We’ve exploded stick bombs, sprayed each other in the face with spray bottles, lined up every shoe in the house, and watched every episode of PJ Masks several hundred times. And while all of this should definitely be classified in the “Mom’s Favorite Things” category, I woke up this morning feeling the itch for something more. Something more, but something that also required zero energy. Yes, today was one of those rare days when I woke up feeling like I had already given all my energy to one of those moms you see at the park with the look on her face that says, “I had one too many kids.”

I started the day doing what any mom in my situation would do: hit the internet. Somewhere out there, I knew someone had planned the perfect day for me. A day I could spend horizontal on the couch, while also meeting impossibly high standards of screen-free education and entertainment for my kids.

And then there it was: the answer to all my current and future problems. Sensory bins.

In case you’ve never heard of these, they are a brilliant life-hack for anyone dealing with young children. First, you find an empty bin in your house. Anything will do, but if you have something big enough to hold your toddler captive, choose that one.

Next, you fill the bottom of the bin with anything you can find in the back of your pantry. Half full boxes of weirdly shaped noodles, reject brown rice, quinoa from your optimistic dieting days…you name it. For the most part, you aren’t looking for things your children will actually ingest, but if you’re looking to get rid of some stale croutons, toss ‘em in. “Sensory” refers to all five senses, including taste.

Now that you have achieved an appetizing but hardly edible sandbox effect, toss in some toys. If your kids are young, make sure they aren’t small enough to be a choking hazard. (You know, like bigger than a weirdly shaped noodle…) I gave my three year old a whisk and some tongs, so he could practice the fine motor skills he will need to be a surgeon someday. The more tools I threw into the mix, the more I felt like Super Mom. It is days like today that I am so grateful for the online community that supports me in my quest for a moment of solitude.

The final step in Project Sensory Bins is to introduce the children. I set the baby down next to one bin, and pointed the toddler toward the other. They were like two grateful orphans approaching their first Christmas Tree. I stepped away to start preparing dinner, and returned to this.

You may be as shocked as I was to discover the amount of mess a one-year-old and a three-year-old can make with a pile of rice and noodles. Apparently excavating for dinosaurs included re-enacting the asteroid shower that wrought extinction upon them and my kitchen with tiny pellets of rice. Don’t be fooled by my white floors. My daughter was shoveling handfuls of rice out of one bin and—wouldn’t you know it—not into the bin I had designated for rice removal. I could hear the figurines crying for release from Sid’s sandbox, and safe return to the toy chest in Andy’s room. But I let the “play” continue. “It stimulates their minds,” they said. “Sensory exploration is crucial,” they said.

And so I finished making dinner. And they finished playing. And now they are asleep, so I guess it worked. But my broom and I have a lot of bonding to do, followed by the Great Vacuum Extravaganza of 2020. Thank you, Pinterest. Moms of tomorrow, you should definitely try Sensory Bins.