DIY sensory indoor/balcony grass area for children OR grass for indoor pets!

I had seen a video on YouTube, so I cannot take credit for this idea entirely. BUT! I figured this would be fun to share for everyone. Those with small children at home may appreciate it and pet "parents" will as well. I also first posted in fur babies about this when I completed it.

The video idea was basically a giant indoor lawn. This guy used some wood he had and made a big two part lawn to start outside and then bring indoors for his cats (dogs love grass too!).

Now, I saw this and thought it was so cool. But I don't necessarily want to build anything, I don't have wood even if I wanted to, and starting it outside seemed like it would just be impossible for me in my living situation. So I decided against it.

Queue my FIL.

He gets me a metal shelf unit with 3 shelves for my indoor garden. Where I was putting it, I don't need the last one, that's where my kitty loves to sleep in her bed.

SO, we took the bottom shelf off. We were going to toss it until I realized... it's an inch deep.

That's all my grass will need to live. So I taped the ends of the shelf shut (they were open to meet the shelf unit bars), went on a home depot run for more soil and *grass seeds, filled the shelf with dirt and seed, then watered it. I put it in a semi sunny/semi shady window sill. A day later I added catgrass to half of the shelf.

Now, 16 days later it is almost ready to give to my kitty to play with to her hearts content. It has been a great experience.

*My only note is that if you buy grass seeds make sure they are not coated. If they are just make sure no animals are able to eat these before the blue goes away. They happen to be harmful to animals, especially dogs from what I have seen. So uncoated seeds or keep it away until the blue goes away.

Now: