Monday, April 9, 2012

The lazy person's guide to making a sandbox

Fact: Toddlers love playing with sand.

My two and a half-year-old is no exception. She can spend hours-on-end immersed in sand-play and not be bored.

The past month, I have been looking at DIY sandbox design projects. I figure I could get so much writing done if Little Miss M. is busy playing in her sandbox!

Inspiration: I saw this Indian tent display at The Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum and thought it might be a nice topper for a sandbox.

You know, it provides shade from the sun and a cover of sorts to protect the play sand from creepy crawlies at night.




Then I saw this awesome sandbox-with-tent thingy on Pinterest.

I promptly pinned it onto my Ideas for the backyard board.


And this fabulous sandbox in the backyard.



And this amazing one - a sandbox / deck with wheels, which you can move around your garden. Genius!

But they all seemed like a) Too much work and b) Too pricey

So this is what I came up with: Something my husband lovingly calls the lazy person's guide to making a cheap, but surprisingly effective sandbox!


1. Find a large container.

In our case, we happened to have a largish plastic swimming pool purchased for $8.99 from Rural King last year, lying forgotten in our garage.


2. Buy a few bags of play sand to fill container. 
We made a quick trip to Lowes and in less than ten minutes picked up six 50 lb. bags of really nice play sand for $3.68 each.

3. Pour sand into container.

Get husband / boyfriend / sucker to do this if you are truly lazy.



4. Enjoy your new sand box.

That's it. So easy.

Its a big hit with Little Miss M. She absolutely loves this.

And I love that I can sit on a chair beside her sandbox and blog, while she makes sand castles.

And the best part?

I can keep an eye on her through my picture window, from inside my house, if i need to watch the stove or something at the same time.

We have a fenced-in, secure backyard. So this is feasible.

The only caveat: This may not work if you have two kids or more. It may be too small.

But its perfect for one toddler.

We cover it with tarp at night so the sand stays dry.

Easy peasy.




4 comments:

  1. This is brilliant Pooh! Very creative and like you said, the best part is that it's so quick and easy to assemble; and by the way, did I tell you how much I love step 3? Lol! If you live in India though, it may not be so easy to find such clean sand!

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  2. Step #3 is my favorite, too! I love it!

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  3. Ha ha, step 3 was awesome. I got to take photographs while my husband, poor guy, hauled bags of play sand from the car and emptied it into the pool, um... repurposed sandbox! :)

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  4. Awesome! Shaunie loved the sandbox when he was a toddler, I think it's a must for every kid missing out on beaches...I just think the feel of sand pouring down your palm is so therapeutic

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