Has anybody made a sand pit / sand box for their child?

[FrannyandZooey]

We are thinking of attempting to make one. How hard can it be? Neither of us have carpentry experience but dp has a Big Book of DIY, a hammer, saw and loansies on a drill.

We want to make it to fit the end of our patio, about 8 foot by 3 foot, I reckon. Any ideas? Advice? Blueprints?

yes

we had a home made sandpit for a while

soon we were the proud owners of the neighbourhood cat litter tray

you need a |very big, strong, lid

they are fab though, ours (we caved and got one from argos) goes under the tree which occupies our entire "lawn" and the kids sit out there for hours, even in winter, while I drink tea and talk shite. its great.

Oh sure, a lid

So would a wooden lid 8 ft by 3 be quite wobbly and hard to lift?

Is there one from Argos as big as I mention? We have only found smaller hexagonal ones, which look too small. We want to be able to get at least 2 children lying full stretch in one, I reckon.

looks easy to do, just basically big square wooden frame, weed control liner on the bottom, the a big lig. ( i would make a wooden one.

i am planning on building one under the climbing frame this year.

hmm

we have a bigger one from argos. at least 1.5 x 1.5 I think

they also do them in b&q

We are making plans to do a double hinged lid.

oh be very aware here that b&q will cut wood to size for you.

Weed control liner? We thought a tarpaulin or something?

If we don't treat the wood, will it rot really quickly? I am not keen on the chemical thing.

Oh and how many kg of sand will it take? I have wholesale catalogues for silver sand etc, but are we going to bankrupt ourselves even so?

how big is 1.5? I don't do m...

My dad made ours when we were little (and turned it into a herb garden when we grew up). You need drainage, but for that size, I would make a mesh lids, or two that open like cellar doors. Ideally you want the children to be able to get into it themselves don't you?

Big tip:

If you possibly can, dig one into your garden. Imagine a fish pond, but full of sand. V good near a patio, as you can just sweep the sand into it. The dustpan and brush clean-up will lose its appeal after a nanosecond.

And yes, get a lid, but make sure it's too heavy for the kids to shift as they will want a fun game of dungeons, which will end in tears.

Drainage? Mesh lids? aaaargh

Erm no I don't think I do want him to be able to get into it by himself

We did think of doing it on the grass, but we only have a tiny little lawn, and there is plenty of patio, which we don't need.

Why would we need drainage if there was a water tight lid?

Ok - I see the point about playing dungeons may not be so good, so ferget the light weight lid.
You need drainage for the days you forget to shut the lid and it rains, or the children empty the paddling pool into the sandpit to make rivers.

The weed control liner will let excess water through, and obviously stop weeds growing up. If you make it onthe patio and it isn't completely sealed, you probably wouldn't need it.

3-5 bags of tescos size silver sand. a bit more if you're feeling generous

cats aside, that should last a season

we don't have a special drainage thing or anything. However, we do tend to take it up for a few months in winter (say november-early march, though it goes down again sporadically) so when its really raining, its not down. Thats for the sake of the lawn really, though.

I honestly haven't found the drainage to be a HUGE problem at all, and we're in wales...

you could always slant the doors slightly and chuck a tarpaulin over the whole thing if you're concerned

oh it will drain through the sand and out the bottom though!

sandpits don't normally have bases, do they?

We have one which is part of our decking.
In the summer,a big piece of decking lifts up on a hinge and is padlocked to the wall.

In the winter it comes down and decking is whole again.

Tis quite brilliant

Sorry I shouldn't have mentioned drainage. It makes it sound complicated. I don't mean anything "special" just not a totally sealed unit so that water can get out of the bottom.

NOt sure of dimensions but my dd has a large wooden sand box in the garden with a two piece wooden lid. Spends hour playing in their it was not cheap but won't be with out it. I got it from super-tramp they mostly sell trampolines but aslo wooden play stuff. www.supertramp.co.uk/
Sorry not sure how to make that into a link.

oooh at moondog's decking. Oooh, I wish I had decking

How big is a Tesco's bag of sand? Thanks for the link lexcat, I will look. Yes, I think it will drain out of the bottom ok, as the patio is a bit wonky anyway so it won't be flush with the bottom I imagine.

You are all jolly helpful, keep going

Lexcat I can't see sand pits on there, am I looking in the wrong place?

Look under garden toys click view brochure
Click bottom line first picture.
For more details you will have to ring them. Telephone no. is at the bottom of the page.

Oh that looks veeeerrrrrry interesting, thank you lexcat. I will ring them tomorrow.

Don't know if this is any help Franny, but at an outdoor group I go to, they have a sandpit it a big tyre! No idea what's at the bottom, and you'd have to cover it with something, but just a thought in case you had any spare tyres knocking around...

V good idea Tatties - we want a really big one though, so several children can play in it at once?

Our neighbor made one himself last summer & even though he made a natty little wooden lid for it, the cats still manage to crap in it & the kids use their shovels to get as much sand as possible on the surrounding lawn. tee-hee!

Oh yes, this is a big one, you can definitely get a few children playing in it at once. I like the idea of it being re-cycled!