WAYS TO PLAY IN THE SANDBOX

I’m excited to be participating in this Summer fun series! One way we have been enjoying our summer is finding fun ways to play in the sandbox.

I knew when we had a baby that it would be harder for me to get out to the park and I would need to have something fun for the kids to do in the late afternoon every once in a while to just get them out of my hair!

So we invested in a little sandbox… You probably have seen this cute little sandbox all over Pinterest. It is super easy afternoon project and the kids love it!

So today I wanted to share some fun activities that you can easily do in the sandbox to keep your kids entertained.

1. Free Play: You can get some simple sand toys, or designate some cups, scoops and other toys. Most of the time I send the kids out with their sand toys… buckets, shovels, cups, etc. and just let them play! This is definitely the easiest solution, but can sometimes get boring pretty quick for the kids.

2. Dig: Bury some animals, dinosaurs, cars or anything in the sandbox. Then let your kids go out and dig! You can make this a little more exciting by offering an incentive for whoever finds the most objects. So much more exciting than free play and it can be different every time. One night search for animals. Another do cars! Oh boy, Owen flips out (in a good way) whenever we do anything with cars!

3. Sand Volcanoes: Sounds fun, right? And it looks like such a fun activity that kids would totally love! This would take a little more interaction with an adult though.

4. Drip Castles: I remember making these at the beach, but they are super fun and you can teach your kids how to do it in the sandbox too! This might make for a little more clean up, but it will be worth it for a little extra peace and quiet. All you do is get your sand really wet and pour water and sand to make a castle.

5. Buried Treasure: Give the kids some jewels to bury and then have them take turns finding them! I know my kids have fun burying their jewels and then taking them to the kiddie pool to wash them off… Again, this activity is a little more work, so plan ahead so that you can fill up the pool! But it definitely entertains for at least an hour and it gives them a good workout which tires them out!

6. Create a Sensory Scene: This is just a fun way to mix things up. Pull out shells that you collected from the beach to make a Beach Scene. Have the kids try to create that scene in the sandbox. This requires a little imagination as the kids will be shaping the sand to look like the landscape. You could also do an African Savanna (create a watering hole) or a Desert Scene (get the sand as flat as possible).

Here are some tips for keeping the sandbox clean and safe! Make sure to keep the lid on to keep animals out. Add a little cinnamon to keep the ants out! Cinnamon is nice because it smells great too! Another way to keep the bugs away is black pepper sprinkled around the outside of the sandbox. I only use black pepper every once in a while.