Today we’ll talk about children's sandboxes for preschool children. They can be purchased ready-made or made with your own hands. There are different designs - not only for a summer house or a shady corner in the courtyard of a high-rise building, but even for an apartment! 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 private garden plot. While adults enthusiastically cherish 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 - the construction of castles, the molding of pies and the construction of mazes. Spending time in them is fun and rewarding.
What is the use? First of all, fussing with sand develops, as you know, fine motor skills, forms creative thinking and develops patience in a baby. And parents are freed from the need to occupy a bored child every second.
We select a children's sandbox for giving
How to do it right? After all, games in it should be at least safe, and at least interesting. Therefore, when choosing, we rely on the following factors:
- Decide on 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 heats up under the direct rays of the sun. Such sandboxes are most often placed on yard playgrounds.
- The next parameter is size. He is also important. If you intend to play alone, you can limit yourself to buying a small-sized plastic sandbox. If guests are expected, for example, children from neighboring summer cottages, it is worth stopping at a large version of wood.
- The presence of a cover. Sandboxes for children with a lid are more a necessity than a whim. Using this accessory you will save the contents from rain and dirt, as well as from the encroachment of pets.
- Most manufacturers today, in the care of young consumers, supply their products with seats, sides and other devices for a comfortable game. This should not be neglected.
- Bright color is important. Only that sandbox for children that is decorated with rich drawings or simply painted in a rich tone will be attractive.
- You need the "right" sand, that is, content that is suitable in composition. The main criteria should be considered environmental friendliness and safety in terms of hygiene.
What else to know about sand
When choosing this product for your child, be sure to ask for a certificate confirming the suitability of the product for use by children. Do not forget to clarify important information regarding the radioactive safety of sand and its place of extraction. Both the sand you bought and the "organized" with your own hands must be perfectly clean, not contain any pebbles, clods of clay, not to mention glass or metal particles.
Sand can be taken river or washed quarry. He must have good flowability, that is, not stick to his hands. All fine dust should be removed from its composition. The technology of this procedure is as follows - rinse and dry, or sift through a sieve. In no case should wet sand turn into sticky dirt. At the same time, being wet, he is obliged to easily form, otherwise there will be no need to talk about pies.
So, we go to the country. If in city courtyards, 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 game constructions, including sandboxes, are built with your own hands. Below are some tips on how to equip such a structure in the courtyard of a private house or in a garden plot.
Seat selection
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 plantations or buildings. Best of all, if the play area is arranged under a large tree that gives a shadow on a hot summer day and protects the baby from scorching rays.
But too strong shading can play a cruel joke - in cool weather, sand that has cooled overnight will not have time to warm up, and the baby risks overcooling. In this case, partial shading is optimal.
A good option is to equip a place to play in the warm and sunny part of your yard and protect against direct sunlight with the help of a special small canopy, for example, in the form of a fungus. It is possible to make it stationary by digging up the racks and pulling a tarp on top. Varying different forms of the “roof”, we get real sandbox houses for children. As a collapsible option, a large beach umbrella is suitable.
Once again about the materials for the sandbox
As already mentioned, the sandbox bought in the store is likely to be made of plastic - the best material in this case. It has no burrs and is resistant to rain and wind, and is easy to clean. But if you prefer to craft sandboxes for children with your own hands, wood will be the most suitable material.
It is easy to process, from the boards with the proper skill you can cut the original figures of animals or cartoon characters. The main requirement is to process all the wood elements well, round the corners, carefully grind to avoid injuries and splintering.
An alternative is to make a game container 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, facilities and creative imagination allow, the construction of a full-fledged playground in the form of a castle with labyrinths, the same sandbox and much more is possible. But stone is not the safest material. There is a risk of injury to the baby. For the smallest, this option is perhaps not suitable.
How wooden sandboxes for children are arranged
This is one of the most common options. Most often, such a sandbox is made in the form of a box of rectangular or square shape with a lid. Development does not require complex drawings. The optimal size for this design is one and a half and a half meters. It is not too much, but three kids will fit in it. Having made the design portable, with these dimensions, you can easily move it to any selected angle.
Product design should take care at the design stage. To relax in between games, the baby is not bad to have small benches. The most convenient is the transformer sandbox, the cover of which consists of two halves and in the open form serves as a place for sitting.
When choosing boards, stop at those whose size allows you to minimize the amount of waste. 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 should hold enough sand so that the paddle blade does not scratch the ground.
If you take blanks in the form of boards 12-centimeter wide and knock down in two rows, you will get sides 24 cm high. When the baby is less than 5 years old, this is quite enough. The size of the poured sand layer is about 15 cm. Boards should be taken about 3 cm thick. Thinner will crack, and massive ones will turn out to be too heavy.
Of course, not everyone wants to bother with a lid transforming into benches with backs. The easiest way is to limit yourself to an ordinary box of square or rectangular shape. 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 a place
In the space chosen for installation, remove grass and sod layer. The recess is covered with sand, which is compacted and covered with geotextile or film (in the latter case, several holes are made for drainage). Such covering material will not allow sprouted weeds to appear in the sandbox and a kid to dig a layer of sand to the ground.
At the corners, racks of wooden timber having a thickness of 5 cm are driven into the ground. At a selected height of the sides (24 cm), we take the workpieces about 2 times longer and half into the ground. We cut the desired size of the board, grind it with high quality (preferably using a grinder), then with the help of self-tapping screws two rows of boards are screwed to the racks driven into the ground.
How is the lid with benches constructed?
The option we have chosen is quite simple. We take 12 boards, each length is 1.6 m (with the width of the structure one and a half meters, the cover slightly extends beyond it). The width of the boards is selected so that all 12 pieces laid out in a row are neatly placed on the box. Wide boards can be taken in half. The basic principle is that each half of the hinged lid consists of three segments. The extreme of them is tightly screwed to the edges of the box with screws. This is a stationary element, it should not open.
The next segment of each half is screwed to the extreme hinges located on top. The third - to the second loops located below. These are the seats and backs. Perpendicular to them from the back, they are attached along a pair of longitudinal bars that will not allow the structure to fall and spontaneously fold.
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 low-growing flowers.
What else are children's sandboxes?
There are a lot of ideas and photos of these simple constructions for kids. What else can you think of except a rectangular box with a lid? Here are some interesting and uncomplicated options:
- The already mentioned beach big umbrella will be an excellent fungus over a children's playground. It should be installed so that, shading the sandbox, it does not interfere with the baby playing. The main disadvantage of such a canopy is instability in a strong wind. It is desirable to secure the structure with a collapsible collar attached to one of the sides. It is undesirable to stick an umbrella leg into the thickness of sand in the center of the site. This will deprive the canopy of stability and the litter material will be perforated.
- Returning to the idea of a hinged lid, you can make a toy storage compartment from one half.
- Excellent playgrounds are built under the stairs leading to the second floor of the house. The cover in this embodiment is not always possible due to limited space. Then, in order to avoid sand getting wet during rain with the wind, the bottom of the structure is filled with crushed stone, onto which geotextiles are laid and everyone is covered with sand from above. Such a drainage layer eliminates excess moisture and at the end of the rain the space for the game will quickly dry out.
- Another option for a children’s sandbox with a lid is to make the last roll up. The canopy, as already mentioned, can be tarpaulin, stretched on high uprights in the corners of a wooden square. In this case, the boards nailed flat on the edges of the sides of the boards will serve as small benches without backs. The toy chest can be knocked separately outside the wooden railing.
- Interested in a mobile sandbox option? You can make it on wheels. Such a small game design on a hard surface can be pumped to any place that is currently convenient for mom and baby. In this case, boards 25-30 mm thick with small slots for removing moisture are suitable for the bottom of the box. Small furniture wheels are mounted at the corners of the bottom.
Other ideas
- It is not necessary to make a sandbox for children in a rectangular or square configuration. The number of racks along its perimeter can be any. For example, a structure can be made hexagonal or in the form of any geometric shape.
- Replacing the wooden cover will serve as a wrap of tarpaulin. This is especially true for structures of complex shape, which are difficult to provide with covers.
- A bright awning of striped tarpaulin, raised high on the racks, will resemble a sail. Such a sandbox can be issued in the form of a boat. If you make a similar "sailboat" on wheels, then this mobile design can be a real find.
- The already mentioned large tires (best tractor tires) are an easy and convenient option in the device. The side flanges of the tire are cut out, leaving only a small edge near the tread. Although trimmed rubber does not apply to sharp materials, it’s better to edge 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 saw 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 familiar form is in the form of a flower. It will require 5 halves of cut tires.
Home sandbox for children
Unfortunately, the stationary structure in the courtyard or in the summer cottage can only be operated 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 inaccessible by default. But why? Let's break stereotypes!
Today, there are many options for educational games for kids in the apartment. One of them is sandboxes for children at home! Now the baby will be able to obtain the necessary skills without going outside (for example, in bad weather or in poor health).
What is this set? The kit, which can be purchased, includes a small inflatable frame and a set of necessary tools for the game - a shovel, several molds and some sand. In different models, the options for molds may vary - for example, for building a castle, etc.
What the kid has to play with
Used filler home sandbox for children looks like wet sand. In fact, this is a special composition of silicone bonding and quartz substance. It is 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 Easter cakes are molded from it. It is safe and does not cause much trouble when cleaning.
Such a miracle sandbox is a real magic wand, which allows not only to take the baby at home on long winter weekdays, but also successfully implement the educational process. We have already talked about the development of motor skills, perseverance and attentiveness. In addition, fussing with convenient plastic sand contributes to a positive impact on the psyche of the child and its development.
The bulk material calms the baby, liberates the shy and calms the excessively active. The filler is safe and does not cause an allergic reaction. It does not breed bacteria. The compact design of the home sandbox for children can be easily assembled and takes up little space during transportation and storage.