Kids Sandbox With Cover

[Nyfeara]

DH made a sandbox using the plans from this website:
http://doverprojects.blogspot.com/20...box-plans.html

The instructions are pretty detailed and it was easy to scale it up or down. I think we did 6x6. It was nice to have an outline of exactly the type of hardware needed and exact counts, etc.

[baileygirl]

I believe we have an older version of this sandbox http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...atchallpartial

We bought it from costco.com 3 years ago. The sandbox has been great, 3+ kids can easily play in it without being on top of each other. Ours does not have shade on it. My only compliant (other then it is really big and there is a lot of sand) is that the tarp didn't last longer then a year. DH ended up framing a tarp which is cheaper then their replacement and is easier to put on/off. When the kids no longer use it for sand, I'll use it as a garden space. I sometimes put treasures in the sandbox...like bury dinosaur bones (until the dog started eating them) or those little confetti like things you can string.

[SoCalMommy]

We are also looking to get a sandbox. Where do you get the sand? They don't come with sand do they???

[essnce629]

We had the Naturally Playful sandbox when DS1 was little and loved it. We sold it when we moved cross country and then bought it again after having DS2. We love it and it definitely keeps the rain and cats out. I just have 2 kids, but the neighbor girls next door (age 5 and 8) have come over before and all 4 kids have played in it at once. Yes, some are on the outside, but it's not a big deal. I'd love a huge custom made sandbox, but that's not happening! I've seen bigger sandboxes with tarp covers but I'd think the water would pool on top when it rains and bugs/spiders would still be able to get in easily. That's what happened to my best friend's big sandbox. It ended up being a pain to take care of so they turned it into a garden.

[essnce629]

We are also looking to get a sandbox. Where do you get the sand? They don't come with sand do they???

You can get "play sand" (silica-free) at Toys-R-Us and Home Depot. A 50lb bag is $5 and the Naturally Playful sandbox uses 4-5 bags of sand.

[rin]

My DH built ours; it was super easy and I think (including digging, which took forever because we have really hard, rocky, clay soil in our yard) it took him two afternoons. He is not really a "handy" person, so I imagine anyone with access to a power drill (and enough upper body strength to lift the boards) could do it. He basically just dug out a square in the ground the size we wanted (figuring about half the sandbox height would be below ground, half above), took four boards and screwed them together into a rectangle, and then screwed an additional board over each end to form a bench. We measured the size of commercially available tarps first, and mad the sandbox the same length but and 8 inches narrower. Then, for the lid, we took two 2x4s and nailed them to the long sides of a tarp. When the "lid" is on, the board lie along the sides of the sandbox and the tarp is stretched taut above. When we want the lid off, we just roll the tarp up along one of the boards.

ETA: Wanted to add that yes, I guess bugs & spiders do get in, but it's never seemed to bother DD and it doesn't really bother me. I figure she's playing outside and outside there are bugs, so I can't let myself get too worked up about it. We mostly wanted to keep the cats and dead leaves/pine needles out, and the tarp does that. Yeah, sometimes a little water does pool on the top of the tarp, but it flows off as soon as we lift one side to roll it up, plus we live in a pretty dry climate so we don't really have to worry about that much. Do the tight-sealing plastic lids really keep all the bugs out?

[SoCalMommy]

You can get "play sand" (silica-free) at Toys-R-Us and Home Depot. A 50lb bag is $5 and the Naturally Playful sandbox uses 4-5 bags of sand.

Thank you! Had no idea about "play sand"!

[Nyfeara]

For the sand: We had a local landscaper deliver the amount we needed. They were able to dump it right into the sandbox and all we had to do was level it out. It was cheaper and less labor for us to go that way for the amount we needed.

[misshollygolightly]

We just use a big, shallow rubbermade-type tote (the under-bed storage style; I bought ours at Big-Lots). The lid stays on really well and of course keeps out critters and rain. It's great because at the end of the summer I rinse it out well and then use it to store outdoor toys during the winter. It may not be big enough for your needs, but it's worked great for us! 2 kids can easily play with ours at the same time...you might need a slightly larger one for 3. (I also like it because it's big enough for the kids to play with, but not so big that they actually walk around inside of it getting sand all in their socks.) Super-cheap!