Families who have snowy winters - storing sandbox?

[Glizmo]

DD has one of those plastic ladybug sandboxes. We're in SE MI and will probably have a cold winter - will the plastic crack if we leave it outside all winter? Or should we empty it out and store it in the garage?

TIA! :)

[wendibird22]

We live in W.NY and plan to leave our turtle sandbox out all winter.

[mikeys_mom]

We don't have a sandbox, but lots of snow here :).

We have a lot of Little Tykes and Step 2 plastic play equipment. We leave them out all winter and nothing has ever cracked. They do get pretty dirty when the snow thaws but I just spend an afternoon wiping them down with warm soapy water in the spring and that takes care of most of the dirt.

[AshleyAnn]

I grew up in MI and we left all our plastic play stuff outside (We had a small village of the houses) and it didn't crack. It will be more brittle so don't let anyone attempt to walk/stand on it but the weight of the snow itself shouldn't affect it since it will slowly bend as the snowfalls on it.

[KathyN115]

We leave our Little Tykes turtle sandbox outside all winter. No problems yet! And I actually picked it up (out of the trash) in the middle of the winter. I wouldn't worry about it at all!

[willow33]

Agree...we live in New England and leave our sandbox out all year and have never had any issues.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

People here leave their sandboxes out... And it snows, and it is below freezing a good portion of the year at night.

[Glizmo]

Thanks everyone! I'm new to outdoor play toys, it's great to know I can just leave it out! :)