Sandbox for kids: an overview of options

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Today we will talk about children's sandboxes for preschool children. You can buy them ready-made or make your own. There are different designs - not only for a summer residence or a shady corner in the courtyard of a high-rise building, but even for an apartment! Yes, yes, do not be surprised - this option will also be considered in the article.

Of course, the best place for such a structure is a personal garden plot. While adults enthusiastically take care of their favorite garden, the baby needs to be busy with something. And preferably useful and even developing. Sandboxes for children in the country in this regard provide a lot of options - building castles, making pies and building labyrinths. Spending time in them is fun and useful.

What is the use? First of all, fussing with sand, as you know, develops fine motor skills, forms creative thinking and develops patience in the baby. And it frees parents from the need to occupy a bored child every second.

Choosing a children's sandbox to give

How to do it right? After allgames in it should be at least safe, as much as possible - interesting. Therefore, when choosing, we rely on the following factors:

1. Determine the material. The most environmentally friendly specimens are made of wood, but they wear out faster than others. The safest, most convenient and practical - plastic sandboxes for children. As a rule, they look the most aesthetically pleasing and original. The most durable - made of metal. But it should be remembered that such a structure is very massive and literally glows under the direct rays of the sun. Such sandboxes are most often placed on courtyard playgrounds.
2. The next parameter is the size. He is important too. If you plan to play alone, you can limit yourself to buying a small plastic sandbox. If guests are expected, for example, kids from neighboring summer cottages, it is worth stopping at the large-sized version made of wood.
3. The presence of a cover. Sandboxes for children with a lid are more of a necessity than a whim. With this accessory, you will save the contents from rain and dirt, as well as from the encroachment of pets.
4. Most manufacturers these days, in the care of young consumers, supply their products with seats, bumpers and other devices for comfortable play. This should not be neglected.
5. Bright color is important. Only that sandbox for children will be attractive, which is decorated with juicy drawings or simply painted in a rich tone.
6. The "correct" sand is needed, that is, the contents that are suitable in composition. Main criteriashould be considered environmentally friendly and safe in terms of hygiene.

What else you should know about sand

When choosing this product for your child, be sure to inquire about the availability of a certificate confirming the suitability of the product for use by children. Be sure to clarify important information regarding the radioactive safety of the sand and where it was mined. Both the sand you bought and the sand "organized" with your own hands must be perfectly clean, not contain any pebbles, lumps of clay, not to mention glass or metal particles.

Sand can be taken river or quarry washed. It must have good flowability, that is, not stick to hands. All fine dust must be removed from its composition. The technology of such a procedure is as follows - rinse and dry, or sift through a sieve. Wet sand should never turn into sticky mud. At the same time, being wet, it must be easily molded, otherwise there will be no talk of Easter cakes.

So, let's go to the dacha. If in city yards, as a rule, there are swings, slides, sandboxes for children, then in the conditions of a garden plot, parents have to take care of their child on their own. Most often, all play structures, including sandboxes, are built by hand. Below are some tips on how to equip such a structure in the courtyard of a private house or on a garden plot.

Choosing a seat

The main principle is that the child is always in front of the parents. That is why sandboxes for children in the country are never organized behind dense plantings or buildings. It is best if the play place is arranged under a large tree, which on a hot summer day gives shade and protects the baby from scorching rays.

But too much shading can play a cruel joke - in cool weather, the sand, which has cooled down overnight, will not have time to warm up, and the baby risks hypothermia. Partial shading is optimal in this case.

A good option is to arrange a place to play in a warm and sunny part of your yard and protect from direct sunlight with a special small canopy, for example, in the form of a fungus. It can be made stationary by digging in racks and pulling a tarpaulin on top. By varying the different forms of the "roof", we get real sandbox houses for children. A large beach umbrella is suitable as a collapsible option.

Once again about materials for the sandbox

As already mentioned, a sandbox bought in a store will most likely be made of plastic - the best material in this case. It has no burrs and is resistant to rain and wind, as well as easy to clean. But if you prefer making sandboxes for children with your own hands, wood will be the most suitable material.

It is easy to process, with proper skill you can cut out original figures of animals or cartoon characters from the boards. The main requirement is to process all wooden elements well, round off the corners, and sand thoroughly to avoid injuries and splinters.

An alternative option is to make a container for games from used car tires. On the Internet you can find many ideas, sometimes very original, for the construction of small and very interesting children's sandboxes from them - in the form of flowers, geometric shapes, etc.

Another interesting idea is a capital structure made of stones. You should take a cobblestone or decorative brick. If space, funds and creative imagination allow, it is possible to build a full-fledged playground in the form of a castle with labyrinths, the same sandbox and much more. But stone is not the safest material. There is a risk of injury to the baby. For the smallest, this option is probably not suitable.

How wooden sandboxes are made for children

This is one of the most common options. Most often, such a sandbox is made in the form of a rectangular or square box with a lid. Development does not require complex drawings. The optimal dimensions for such a design are one and a half meters by one and a half meters. It's not too much, but three kids will fit in it. Having made the design portable, with such dimensions, you can easily move it to any chosen corner.

Product design should be taken care of at the design stage. For rest in between games, it’s good for a baby to have small benches. The most convenient is a transforming sandbox, the lid of which consists of two halves and, when open, serves as a place to sit.

When choosing boards, choose the ones whose size allows you to reducethe amount of waste to a minimum. The sandbox should not be too high - it will be difficult for the child to climb over the side. At the same time, the container must hold enough sand so that the child's shovel does not scrape the ground.

If you take blanks in the form of boards 12 cm wide and knock them down in two rows, you get sides 24 cm high. When the baby is less than 5 years old, this is quite enough. The size of the layer of poured sand is about 15 cm. Boards should be taken with a thickness of about 3 cm. Thinner ones will crack, and massive ones will be too heavy.

Of course, not everyone wants to mess around with a lid that transforms into benches with backs. The easiest way is to limit yourself to an ordinary square or rectangular box. But the sand will still have to be protected from leaves, debris, dirt and cat visits. So do not be too lazy to make a cover from thin boards (2 cm) and attach it to the box with ordinary hinges.

How to prepare the site

Grass and sod should be removed from the area selected for installation. The recess is filled with sand, which is rammed and covered with geotextile or film (in the latter case, several holes are made for drainage). Such a covering material will not allow sprouted weeds to appear in the sandbox and the baby to dig a layer of sand to the ground.

At the corners, racks made of wooden beams with a thickness of 5 cm are hammered into the ground. With the selected height of the sides (24 cm), we take the blanks about 2 times longer and half hammer them into the ground. We cut the boards of the required size, grind them with high quality (preferably withusing a grinder), then using self-tapping screws, two rows of boards are screwed to the racks driven into the ground.

How exactly is the cover with benches constructed?

The option we chose is quite simple. We take 12 boards, the length of each is 1.6 m (with a construction width of one and a half meters, the lid slightly extends beyond it). The width of the boards is selected so that all 12 pieces laid out in a row fit neatly on the box. Wide boards can be taken half as much. The basic principle is that each half of the hinged cover consists of three segments. The last of them is tightly screwed with self-tapping screws along the edges of the box. This is a stationary element and should not open.

The next segment of each half is screwed to the last one with loops located on top. The third - to the second loops located below. These are seats and backs. A pair of longitudinal bars are attached perpendicular to them from behind, which will not allow the structure to fall and fold spontaneously.

Pour sand into the finished container. If your plans do not include moving the structure to another place, the approach to it can be laid out with solid material, for example, paving slabs. If there is soil around your sandbox, it should be sown with lawn grass or planted with small undersized flowers.

What else are children's sandboxes?

There are a lot of ideas and photos of these simple structures for kids. What else can you think of besides a rectangular box with a lid? Here are some interesting and easy to implementoptions:

1. The large beach umbrella already mentioned will be an excellent fungus over a children's play area. It should be installed so that, shading the sandbox, it does not interfere with the baby's play. The main disadvantage of such a canopy is instability in strong winds. It is desirable to fix the structure with a collapsible clamp attached to one of the sides. It is undesirable to stick the umbrella leg into the thickness of the sand in the center of the site. This will destabilize the canopy and the bedding material will be perforated.
2. Returning to the idea of a hinged lid, you can make a compartment for storing toys from one half.
3. Excellent playgrounds are built under the stairs leading to the second floor of the house. A lid in this embodiment is not always possible due to limited space. Then, in order to avoid getting sand wet during rain with wind, the bottom of the structure is filled with crushed stone, on which geotextiles are spread and everything is covered with sand from above. Such a drainage layer eliminates excess moisture and after the rain stops, the play area will dry out quickly.
4. Another option for a sandbox for kids with a lid is to make the last one roll up. The canopy, as already mentioned, can be canvas, stretched on high racks at the corners of a wooden square. In this case, boards nailed flat along the edges of the boards will serve as small benches without backs. The toy chest can be knocked down separately outside the wooden fence.
5. Interested with the mobile sandbox option? You can make it on wheels. Such a small play structure on hard surface can bepumped to any place convenient at the moment for mom and baby. For the bottom of the box, in this case, boards with a thickness of 25-30 mm with small slots for moisture removal are suitable. Small furniture wheels are attached to the bottom corners.

More ideas

1. A sandbox for children does not have to be made in a rectangular or square configuration. The number of racks along its perimeter can be any. For example, a building can be made hexagonal or in the form of any geometric figure.
2. Replacing the wooden cover will serve as a cape made of waterproof tarpaulin. This is especially true for structures of complex shape, which are difficult to provide with covers.
3. A bright striped tarpaulin awning raised high on poles resembles a sail. Such a sandbox can be designed in the form of a boat. If you make a similar "sailboat" on wheels, then this mobile structure can be a real find.
4. The already mentioned large tires (preferably tractor ones) are an easy and convenient option in the device. The side shelves of the tire are cut out, leaving only a small edge next to the tread. Although cut rubber is not a sharp material, it is still better to wrap the edge with a hose cut along. The tire can be painted in any bright color.

If the tires are small, turn on the fantasy. We cut each tire into two or three identical segments, paint it in bright colors and make a variety of designs, connecting the parts with wire or hardware. The most common form is in the form of a flower. Forit will require from 5 halves of cut tires.

Homemade sandbox for kids

Unfortunately, a stationary structure in the yard or in a summer cottage can only be used in the summer. In addition, the child in it is not protected from animals and other dangerous factors. In the cold season, exciting educational games with such wonderful natural material as sand in the fresh air become unavailable by default. But why? Let's break stereotypes!

Today, there are many options for educational games for kids in an apartment. One of them is sandboxes for children at home! Now the baby will be able to get the necessary skills without going outside (for example, in bad weather or when you feel unwell).

What is this set? The kit, which can be purchased, includes a small inflatable frame and a set of tools necessary for playing - a spatula, several molds and some sand. In different models, the options for molds may vary - for example, for building a castle, etc.

What baby will play with

The used filler of a home sandbox for children looks like wet sand. In fact, this is a special composition of silicone glue and a quartz substance. It is the gluing that gives it the texture of wet sea sand. At the same time, such a filler is very loose, dry, it is easy to spill it through your fingers. Wonderful cakes are molded from it. It is safe and easy to clean.

Such a miraclethe sandbox is a real lifesaver that allows not only to take the baby at home on long winter days, but also to successfully implement the educational process. We have already talked about the development of motor skills, perseverance and attentiveness. In addition, fiddling with comfortable plastic sand contributes to a positive impact on the child's psyche and development.

Loose material calms the baby, liberates the shy and calms the overly active. The filler is safe and does not cause an allergic reaction. Bacteria do not grow in it. The compact design of the home sandbox for kids can be easily assembled and takes up little space for transport and storage.