I am thinking about purchasing my son a sand box to have for the backyard for when he can't go to the beach and wanted to know a little more about what type of sand to put in it. I actually live near the beach and was thinking of just using that sand, since the sandbox isn't very big. Can you use 'real' sand or do you have to use 'play' sand?

There are several warnings about using the 'play' sand. Thanks!

what are the warnings??


we used play sand in ours...we need some more actually. kids will play in anything though. Mine have shoveled so much play sand out of it and shoveled so much yard dirt into it, and it's rained so much that it's just muck now...makes for a good Monster truck track.

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I'd worry less about the sand and more about a cover to keep out critters.

Nothing like feral cats etc. using the sandbox as a litter box.

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The warning label reads that "excessive inhalation of respirable silica dust may cause cancer and lung disease."
"much of the playsand found in today's stores is not natural sand, but actually derived from quarried quartz rocks. Children, who have developing lungs, breathe in crystalline silica dust as they play in the sand. Frequent sandbox play creates continued exposure to this known carcinogen."

These are just some of the things that I found when researching 'play' sand...

It seems to me that I can just the sand from the beach and be just fine!

The sandbox that I am looking to purchase has a lid, but I definitely will be sure to keep an eye on the neighborhood cats! Thanks!

Interesting - is this like some new cheap Chinese sand or did they just get paranoid about the same old sand?

The city just dumped loads of sand at the parks each spring so we could use it to refresh our sandboxes.

Same stuff we used to fill sand bags during floods too.

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The enemy is ignorance.