One great tip for life on the block

There are regular sandpits, and then there are the best kind: epic.

How to build a great sandpit

My family has a long history of great sandpits. The first was at the bottom of a tiered garden. In the garden above was a swingset, and then a slide came down the bank, finishing in the sandpit.

Our parents gave up trying to contain it. Every couple of years, a trailerload of sand would be dumped in the middle. I suspect that even 30-mumble years later, if you started digging downhill from that site, you’d find half a quarry of sand.

My brother learned from our childhood experiences and created a beautiful macrocarpa-lined sandpit for his sons. It lasted about a year. The Mark 2 version is almost triple the size, has a roof that doubles as a deck and looks like the prow of a pirate ship (complete with ship’s wheel, hand-made by our Dad), and of course there’s a slide, but not just any slide – a 4m-long slide because Aunty Nadene (and Nana and Poppa) wanted our boys to have a slide as good as the one she enjoyed.

Size:

the bigger the better. Double your first estimate, but it’s probably better to triple it. If you measure the space two children take up, then add a few trucks, a digger, buckets etc, then add a friend each… go big.

Lining:

you can put weedmat down but it can get blocked by fine bits of sand and over time you end up with a swimming pool when it rains. My brother’s... I mean, my nephews’ sandpit is lined with black builder’s plastic but it does have a roof.

Drainage:

If you have good draining soil, you could put down a layer of drainage metal (25mm washed stone) and then put the sand over the top. If it’s clay, and/or near a slope, make sure the base has a slight angle to it. I’d also recommend a trench outside the sandpit on its lowest side to help drain water away: put plastic drain coil in the bottom, cover with drainage metal, then a layer of weedmat (to stop dirt and weeds clogging the drain coil), cover with dirt and level, then add lawn seed.

Pit depth:

A good depth is 300mm deep – my nephews’ sandpit has 450mm high sides (the timber is 150mm widths), topped with wide planks to form a seat for adults.

Sides:

my brother chose treated, dressed 150x50mm lengths of wood because once a sandpit gets this big, you need a lot of macrocarpa which is expensive, and one sleeper isn’t high enough to hold a good amount of sand. However, you could use sleepers if you prefer the aesthetic.

Sand:

go for builder’s sand which is the most expensive but you get a clean product of a consistent size so it holds together better if you’re making sandcastles etc. You could also go for fine pumice sand as a cheaper option.