Sand Table - DIY

Like most kids, my boys like playing in the sand. However, sand boxes are usually a little bit gross to me. Maybe because they always remind me of the sandbox in my backyard growing up. The sand was more like dirt, wet most of the time and icky things often lurked in the corners. Now, when I take the kids to the park, there always seems to be a bandaid in the communal sandbox.

Using the beautiful sand table at our local kids museum as inspiration, I decided I could make a portable sand table quite easily. Two great things about the sand table are: 1) When the kids start getting bored with it I put it in the garage for a few days. When it comes back out, the kids are all excited again about the sand. 2) Most sand sold at home improvement stores is not healthy for kids to be playing in. I bought silica and quartz free sand (Sandtastik) which is more expensive, but you only need a small amount for table play.

I wanted the table to be as non-toxic as possible, made of wood, preferably unfinished. I bought an Ikea kids play table for $20 and it came with two chairs. Hey! I framed the edges out with wood ($7) and caulked the inside seams. Dumped some sand in there and... voila!