Wagons

About 3 weeks ago a parent donated one of these to our center;

They were moving into a smaller place and didn't have the space for it. Plus, the children never used it (key word there is never). So, how long does a wagon like this last on a preschool playground? Not long at all. Last Tuesday I went out and it had just broken. One of the front wheels had come off. Upon closer inspection, the plastic around the wheel split apart from the rest of the wagon. Does this mean this wagon is a bad product? No. In a home, I have seen these last for years. However, a preschool yard tends to give equipment years worth of use in just one short week. The children had a blast pulling each other around the yard. They are still putting it to good use:

I suggested we take the wheels off and put it in the sand box. At first when we took the wheels off, we didn't dig a hole for it to sit in. The children had fun pulling each other around the yard in their "boat"! That alone was worth it. After a while we saw a safety need to either get it out of the yard, or make it a more permanent structure. Now it's still a boat, it just doesn't go anywhere. Eventually they will get tired of it, and at that point we may move it to our garden and make it a flower bed; until then...it's a boat!