THE SANDS OF TIME

Make a sandbox with a lid and bench for the kids

- Manon van der Sar

Materials

• 4 wooden shelves
• Around 40 screws
• 8 hinges
• Wood glue
• Stain

Tools

• Clamps
• Saw
• Sander
• Mitre box

Playing with sand is not only fun for children of all ages, but it is also very educational. But our sandpit was also very messy with cats running around it. So, I searched for a good and handy lid but the size of my sandpit was not standard. So I decided to make my own based on a picture 1 found online!

Here are some simple instructions on how to make your own lid, for the size that is most comfortable for you! We have now used this sandbox lid for five months and we are still having fun with it! (And the 4-year-old is able to open the lid herself. If you have a smaller sandbox, smaller kids can open the lid (depending on the weight of the wood).

Step-by-step guide

Step 1: Measure your sandbox (or define the size if you have to build a sandpit from scratch. If you do make your own sandpit, we dug a hole, placed stones at the side and tiles at the bottom and then filled it with sifted sand).

In our case, the sandbox was 1400 millimetres wide and long. The side of the box in our case is 50mm thick. These sizes are important for selecting the right wooden shelves.

The math: (width of the sandbox + thickness of the side) / 8 (if you want the same look, 4 is also possible) = maximum width of the shelves.

We searched for a shelf that was 110mm smaller than that outcome, allowing a small space in between the shelves (also giving some room for error).

We also needed to clear the stones from sharp material.