How to make a natural kid’s sandpit for your garden

Materials and tools you’ll need:

a shovel
some specialist sandbox sand
landscape fabric or waterproof membrane
a wheelbarrow (not essential)
large rocks for the outer edge of the pit.

You’re all set!

The planning stage

Outline the size, dimensions and location of your sandpit. You can use anything; string, rope, rocks. Whatever you have to hand.

Dig!

This is the only real labour-intensive part of the project. Depending how large/deep you want the pit, you can work up quite a sweat removing all the soil. For added dimension, and varied play potential, why not have shallow and deep areas for your sandpit?

Line your pit

Take your landscape fabric or waterproof membrane and line your dug-out pit. You might need a number of sheets of fabric, depending how large your sandpit is. Use rocks or anything heavy to hold the fabric in position while you cut it.

Sand, sand, everywhere…

It’s time to fill your sandpit up with, you guessed it, sand! Use a wheelbarrow if you’d prefer. But it’s just as easy to open up each sand bag and pour into the membrane-lined hole. There’s less chance of waste, too.

A rocky finish

Use a selection of rocks—as smooth and uniform in size as possible—and place around the outer edge of the sandpit. This adds a nice neat aesthetic to your new play area and hides any excess fabric that might be protruding. Job done!

Posted on August 13th 2021