You might remember in this recent post about Treasure Hunt Soup, how Immy enjoyed the climbing challenge of the trunks of the trees we were pulling down (so we can replace a row of some awful pine/conifer variety with some more useful fruit trees). When I saw how much she enjoyed them, I was determined to use the trunks in our yard somehow but I wasn’t sure exactly how. Then we started making plans for building a sandpit and it all started to fall into place. So here is how we made our wooden sandpit…
Fill with sand and dig away…
… and when you are finished digging, there is plenty of stump balancing to be enjoyed 🙂
We still have a lot of work to do in the backyard and in an effort to keep the sandpit sand somewhat clean and separate from the soil all around, we have lined the sides of the sandpit temporarily with some fake turf and this weekend we will be planting a small hedge along the fence side. Immy loves outdoor play and the sandpit is already a big hit. I must admit, I don’t get the problem with sand, it brushes off easily, is easy to sweep up and kids love it, which for me equals a moment’s peace, and what is not to love about that?
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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
1. Finding "play sand" that does not contain silica (a known carcinogen). The fine print reads "Prolonged exposure to silica dust has been known to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm". All the "play sand" we found at Home Depot et al, contained silica.
I have found only ONE safe sand (Sandtastic) and had to special order it.
http://motherrising.blogspot.com/2007/03/whats-in-your-sandbox.html
2. The other safety issue, is that it must be covered when not played with so that animal feces don't end up in the sand. Animal feces can transmit parasites such as Toxoplasma Gondii, Salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter.
*As for pesky insects (like sand fleas), a few drops of peppermint oil will send them packing and leave your little one's tootsies smelling like candy canes :-)
I'm also intrigued and grateful to Wendy for flagging up the silica dust concern - that's a new hazard for me and one that I haven't seen arise as an issue in the UK yet.
If it's any reassurance to other readers, the concern here is the ingestion of silica dust into lungs during industrial activities such as sandblasting which is a very dusty activity requiring protective clothing.
Sandtastic states that it doesn't contain any "free" silica rather than it being silica free (NB silica and quartz are the main components of most sand types).
It's great that this product exists for those who need this reassurance. I do find the silver play sand in most UK shops dust free and fine for general use. Sandtastic is not available in the UK.
Peppermint oil sounds fab...I get bored of citronella and tea tree so thanks too for flagging this up.
For those with questions about keeping animals out, we will use a shadecloth cover, which is exactly what we used in my child care centre as well. If you want to easily weight it down, sew a few channels around the edges to accommodate some lengths of metal chain. Just enough weight to hold it in place but not to cumbersome to move easily.
Wendy and Julia, thank you for the information about silica, like you Julia, it is not something which I have come across as an issue in Australia and we have sandpits all around this country.
Blessings
Diane