The Ultimate Sand Box Set Up | Backyard Fun

It has been almost a year since we set up my son’s sandbox, and I am here to tell you it has been one of the best backyard additions. We have played with it all year round, and my toddler absolutely loves it. We sometimes sit out there for hours digging for hidden treasures, playing construction zone, or building castles.

I have an outdoor kind of kid. He loves sandboxes and goes straight to them whenever we visit his favorite farms. He loves all things tractors, treasure, and getting to play in the dirt. I figured if I put together a sandbox in the backyard, he would, for one, stop digging in my garden beds, and also have a place to play while I tended to the garden. It was an absolute success.

In the cooler mornings, we love gardening, playing in the sandbox, and tossing around sports toys. Then when the sunny afternoon hits and we do not feel like packing a bag and heading to the pool, we pop up the bounce house pool and bounce back and forth between the sandbox and the bounce house. I even bring lunch outside and we eat at the matching picnic table.

I typically wait for my husband to put things together because I usually mess things up, and anything that involves reading directions just is not fun for me. But I really wanted to get this sandbox set up and surprise him when he came home from camp. Since my husband was in Germany for work, I could only count on myself to get it done.

I am so glad I did, because it gave me the confidence boost I needed. I realized it was much easier than I thought it would be. In fact, it was so easy that I went on to put together the matching table too.

I bought ten bags of sand! I plan to add more this summer for a little refresh.

The super expensive white sand on Amazon was completely out of the budget for this project. It would have cost me over $300 for the amount of sand we needed. I headed to Lowes and bought the Sakrete play sand instead, and it worked perfectly.

I dumped it into the box on a super windy day and a lot of the extra dust blew away. I also took a hose to the sand to rinse it off, added a little soap to help keep critters away, and really soaked the sand. I try to keep it damp so the dust does not go flying into my toddler’s lungs. Also, creatures like snakes do not like wet sand. I also sprinkle cinnamon and use a lemongrass spray around the perimeter to help keep out spiders and snakes. I always do a snake check under the benches before letting my son play. We live by the river, so snakes are very common around here.

I will say, loading all of that sand into my cart, into the car, and then hauling it to the backyard with the wheelbarrow was the ultimate workout, but it was so worth it. If you watch the video I posted in this blog, you will see how much dust came up from the wind, which is exactly why I like to keep the sand wet.

I dumped out all of his favorite construction toys, new sandbox toys, and a bunch of jewels and gems into the sandbox for fun. He especially loves the jewels because of the treasure episode on Danny Go! They are fun to burry and dig up.

I am looking forward to another summer of sandbox fun, the refreshing bounce house, and spending time in the backyard gardening with my two boys.

Question for you!

What do you love doing in the summer with your kids?