As it got warmer outside and we started spending more time outside, I was trying to think of new ideas and ways to keep the kids engaged and happy outside. I pulled up Amazon and started looking for sandboxes. My kids have ALWAYS loved playing in the sand at their schools. Is it messy? YES. Sand gets everywhere. There is not a crack or a crevice that is not covered in sand. And they come home with oodles of sand in their shoes. But they love it and spend so much time in their sandboxes at school. I might have to sweep our back room a million times a day just to try to keep some of the sand out of the rest of the house, but hey, hours spent playing is totally worth it! Right?!!?
Anyway…so I went about my search on Amazon. I cannot believe the prices for even just a small sandbox. The cheapest I found (maybe I didn’t browse long enough) was $70. I was expecting to spend like $20. Did I mention my husband and I live on a budget? That was just more than I was willing to spend. So as I sat there watching my kids play in their small kiddie pool that I spent $6.99 on, an idea hit me! I got the bright idea to use said kiddie pool for a sandbox! I’m sure I’m not the only person who has had this fantastic idea. We had 2 of the small pools and both already had small holes in them so why not? I got on the Home Depot website and found a 50 lb bag of play sand for $4.50. I figured 2 of those bags would fill the pool just enough! Now I just needed to find a pool a little bigger to make a cover for the sandbox. Academy carries a larger kiddie pool for $14.99 but I ended up getting the same pool from another store for $16.99 just because it was a little closer to our house. As an added bonus, the “cover” can also be used as a pool while the sandbox is uncovered! That’s $16.99 for a pool and a cover! So if you are keeping up with the math, so far it is $6.99+4.50+4.50+16.99. That’s 32.98 instead of $70 (cheapest price on Amazon). More than my planned $20, but it could work! So I ordered all the items, told my kids to get their clothes on, and loaded up! We got all the supplies. The kids have LOVED the sandbox. Now if only I could keep the boys from throwing the sand on their sister! I had to put the sandbox up since the roofers were coming. I didn’t want any nails and such to end up in the sandbox with the kids. If you decide to do this activity for your kids, grands, or whoever, I would also recommend adding cinnamon and black pepper to your sand. Not a ton, but just a little. This will help keep the ants out. I had to Pinterest it to find out how AFTER we ended up with ants in our sandbox. It even got rid of the ants that were currently occupying our sandbox! More pictures to come after I set the sandbox back up!
