This may be a silly question, but where can I get sand if I want to make a DIY sand box?
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You can buy 'play sand' at home depot/lowes but some people believe it's unsafe because it contains silica and it's a carcinogen if it's inhaled. Plenty of people use it though so I'm not really sure how much of a risk it really is. If you're concerned about that you can Google 'safe sand' and order some without silica online.
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I heard it's common around here to buy it from a construction site. They have special grades that are suitable for sandboxes (it's the same sand they use in all the playgrounds and daycares nearby).
We ended up buying our sand at a home improvement store (pre-packaged bags). We got 2 different kinds and the one we liked best is a grade 0-3 mm. It has small particles of clay - perfect for making sandcastles! We stayed away from ToysRUs, their sand isn't supposed to be sandcastle friendly.
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Here's the color of our sand.
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We got ours at Home Depot.
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The beach
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@mamaof2: Love it! We don't get there very often unless we are visiting my parents in Florida, but next time we do, I'll bring a container to lug some home in!
@jerricabenton: Thanks for the tip! I didn't know about silica in sand (and I might not have known it was a carcinogen).
@sugarplumsmom: Thanks for the information and photo. We definitely would want sandcastle-friendly sand!
@mediagirl: Makes sense, but I didn't realize Home Depot sold sand.
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@Katrocap: haha, I didn't either....until I think I asked here, too.
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@SugarplumsMom: what's sandcastle friendly sand? We wet ours every week or so and it works well for castles.
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@mediagirl: The ones they sell at ToyrRUs make horrible sandcastles, even when wet. It's the really light sand.
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@SugarplumsMom: crazy! I had no idea. To be honest, I was sitting here wondering if sandcastle ready sand was like kinetic sand... Always wet.
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@mediagirl: I honestly don't know if it's the color or that the color better reflects how varied it is vs. just gleaming, clean sand that doesn't have any other particles in it that allows it to better clump together. One of the ones we got is also a brown colored sand, but it doesn't have tiny clay specs (only the same, uniform, type of sand) and it doesn't clump as well. Lol. We obviously way over thought this!
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Another note they told us. The sand from Home Depot and lowes is not officially sealed. It's just sand for landscaping. But Toys R Us has sand that is sealed and guaranteed to be clean. But it's like 2-3 times more expensive.
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YHL did rocks instead of sand, and I love how clean it looks. http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/04/the-sandbox-chronicles-part-3-the-remix/
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