Today's article will be useful to all those who can hear happy children's voices and laughter in the house or at the cottage. Most of us know firsthand how difficult it is sometimes to enthrall a child with something in order to do things ourselves at this time. We offer a way out - building a bright, interesting sandbox on a site that will take your children more than one day and give them a lot of pleasant emotions and joy.
What to look for first of all when building a sandbox?
Firstly, its location - the sandbox should be located in full view of adults, under supervision; in addition, you should not place the sandbox under the crowns of trees to avoid clogging the sandbox with falling leaves and branches.
Secondly, be sure to take care of the canopy that protects the sandbox from the sun, so that children can play it even on a bright sunny day.
When deciding on the size of the sandbox, you should consider the planned number of children who will play in it. As a rule, sandboxes measuring 2 by 2 meters are suitable for games of several children. As for the amount of sand needed to fill such a sandbox, it will require about 2 cubic meters. meters.
What to build a sandbox from? The ideal material for its construction is wood, for example, pine boards, as a clean and environmentally friendly material.
So, having prepared the materials and the place on the site for placing the sandbox, you should mark the estimated place of its installation with the help of wooden pegs and rope. After that, you need to dig a hole according to the marking, with a depth of about 25-30 centimeters, where our sandbox will be located in the future.
After the pit is dug up, its base should be prepared. To do this, at the bottom of the pit should make a "pillow" of sand with a thickness of about 5 centimeters, covering it with a special insulating material. It is recommended to use geotextiles or agrofibre as an insulating material, since these materials are ideally suited for our purposes - they protect against insects living in the ground, while being water-permeable and not retaining water and rainfall. If you decide to use waterproof materials, such as polyethylene, do not forget to make drainage holes in them to avoid stagnation of water in the sandbox.
The next step will be the installation of wooden blocks in the corners of our sandbox. We will need 4 bars, each about 50 centimeters high.First, they should be treated with an antiseptic, which will prevent them from rotting in the ground, and after that they should be placed in the ground to a depth of about 15 centimeters.
Further, on the installed bars, it is necessary to strengthen the boards prepared in advance, thus creating a square with wooden walls. The optimal height of each wall is about 30 centimeters. Do not forget to carefully process the boards and clean them of knots and chipping so that children playing in the sandbox are not injured.
Our sandbox is almost finished and it remains to add just a few touches.
Which ones? For example, install the sides of the boards. To do this, 4 boards of the appropriate size should be installed on the walls of the sandbox, having previously cleared them of knots and notches. Such bumpers are useful to children not only as convenient benches, but also as a "showcase" for toys and sand structures.
Another useful sandbox fixture is the lid. What is it for? The lid protects the sandbox and sand in it from debris carried by the wind; from rains and snow; from home animals that might want to make a toilet in the sandbox. The lid is very easy to make in the form of a wooden shield, hinged on the sandbox, with a handle for more convenient use.
And the last question that should be condemned when creating a sandbox is which sand should I choose to fill the sandbox? River sand is considered the most successful choice, as the cleanest and containing a minimum of third-party impurities and additives. However, if you cannot find river sand, quartz sand will be a good substitute for it, which you can buy at any nearby construction store. In addition, on sale you can find special sand for children's games, which is characterized by an increased clay content. This clay content allows sand figures to better keep in shape and will surely appeal to your children.
Do not forget that any sand must be sifted carefully before being poured into the sandbox, as even sand sold in building goods stores may contain garbage and other unwanted objects.