Looking for sand for my toddler to play in a sandbox

[Blessed_Mom]

What are my options please? Where can I get good clean sand? I need about 150 lbs of it.

[crunchy_mommy]

Any lawn & garden center should sell "play sand" by the bag -- Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. It is labeled "play" or "sandbox" sand.

[springmum]

Some play sands have some weird fake stuff in it (excuse that I can't remember what it is right now...someone help!)

Most garden centre's will have the the pure sand..I think it's the big box kids' stores that have the fake stuff.

[carmel23]

Call around.. find a rock store-- like for landscaping.  In our city the rock store sells really nice beach sand.... it is very lovely texture and so much fun to play in.  :)

[Kedrosami]

A friend told me about this site recently: http://www.safesand.com/

Apparently all the sand you can get in home improvement and landscaping stores is carcinogenic (!) although the stuff on the above site is crazy expensive. I want a sandbox for my DS and my current plan is to drive 3 hours and steal some buckets of sand from the beach--yeah don't know if that's going to happen, lol!

[Blessed_Mom]

I was talking about this with my sister who suggests that my 2 yr old is too young to play in a sandbox. She says that the sand may get in her eyes and damage her cornea ( now I am scared) or her mouth and nose.

Is that your experience too? If I supervise her 100% of the time will it be OK or should I wait a couple of years.

[Blessed_Mom]

What about this?

http://www.amazon.com/SANDTASTIK-WHITE-PLAY-SAND-25LB/dp/B001AZ0CGG/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1308805317&sr=8-10

[MadiMamacita]

Originally Posted by Blessed_Mom 

I was talking about this with my sister who suggests that my 2 yr old is too young to play in a sandbox. She says that the sand may get in her eyes and damage her cornea ( now I am scared) or her mouth and nose.

Is that your experience too? If I supervise her 100% of the time will it be OK or should I wait a couple of years.

I suppose it is true that she is likely to get sand in her eyes/mouth/nose while playing in a sandbox, but I have never heard of limiting sand play because of the danger of cornea damage. The wind could blow some sand or grit in her eyes just standing outside.. no one says don't go outside..
My almost 2 year old used to eat handfuls of sand and lick sand off his hands. it was so gross but he loved it. I have seen some other younger kids do that too. Turns out it is not a pica concern if they are under 2, but could signal a deficiency in some mineral or vitamin- can't remember now..

She will be fine. let her try it out.

Our local landscaping/garden places have that superfine beach sand. it is awesome.

[Ansley]

I get ours from Lowes. It is good, clean, white sand.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by Blessed_Mom 

I was talking about this with my sister who suggests that my 2 yr old is too young to play in a sandbox. She says that the sand may get in her eyes and damage her cornea ( now I am scared) or her mouth and nose.

Is that your experience too? If I supervise her 100% of the time will it be OK or should I wait a couple of years.

That is really sad. I have never heard of anyone seriously hurt like that but maybe I am just unaware. I know some people are concerned about certain particles present in some sand though.

DS loves playing in the sand and has played in the sandbox & on the beach many many many times and I've never seen any ill effects... it has a ton of benefits to him... sensory, creativity, joy... We supervise him as we do most things (because he is 2, not because it's sand!), basically making sure he isn't throwing sand or hitting someone with a shovel...

[cloudbutterfly]

I just went through this!  Google helped a lot on this one.

The issue with the playsand and most other sand you can get at hardware/home improvement stores is the silica particles of respirable size.  It's carcinogenic when inhaled--but from what I can tell, the concern is for workers exposed to it full time in an industrial setting for an extended period of time.  Sand that has been ground from rock from a quarry has a lot more of it than beach sand, from which the ocean has washed most of the respirable silica away.  (You can apparently track down beach sand at some nurseries, though I didn't feel like doing that much work.)  I did a lot of Googling, and found a number of responses from parents who were also scientists, who looked at the issue from their background.  One suggested washing the sand in a few changes of water, much as you would do with rice, and letting the larger particles settle before pouring off the water with the tiny particles still suspended in it.  Another thought that most of the respirable silica would blow away given that the sandbox would be outdoors.  Someone suggested just keeping the sand slightly damp at all times, which would keep the tiny stuff from being dry enough to blow around.

After a lot of research and a sandbox sitting empty for weeks while I decided, I went to a local sand and rock company and talked to the woman in the office, who was very knowledgable about which of their sands had the least respirable silica.  I will admit that I did not go with the stuff she said had the least, because there was some much prettier tan sand that looked like what beach sand does my imagination (but sadly not on the actual beaches around here!), and I was planning to try washing it anyway.  Or, rather, I got my husband to wash it for me when I got it home.  (I did all the research and acquired it, after all.)  So far, so good, though it's still awfully wet...but then again, you can't make sand castles when it's dry, so I'll probably just keep it slightly damp once it dries out.

The other thing you want to watch with sand is keeping animals--especially cats--out of it.  A good cover is essential.

[carmel23]

Wow, I feel lucky to have a this place: www.oregondecorativerock.com in our city. They sell lovely beach sand...

[lovepickles]

Fyi the small silica particles that can be inhaled can cause silicosis by embedding small particles of sand in the lung. Normal healthy lungs have cilia that are hairlike (think crowd surfing) to clean the lungs and move the tiny pieces out but in some instances these small pieces of sand get stuck. In this case the lung tries repeatedly to repair the stuck sand (silica sand is actually GLASS) and this continuous repair leads to cell mutation/cancer.

If you get 10 mesh sand and saturate it with water to rinse the finer particles away you should significantly lower your risk. Just stay away from the finer mesh sizes with the higher number. You don't want it to be powdery and dusty after you rinse and dry.

One cheap place to get it is from a large ceramic supply place. And I don't mean Dick Blick.

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