Play Area

We have a sand box with a cover. (stray cats in the area) I went to the local hardwear store and bought REAL sand. The kids love it! I had bought "made" sand which was crushed white stone and it was aweful!!!! It was so dusty that he kids would sneeze and cough after playing in it and it made a mess of their clothes leaving white powder dust all over everything. A.

When we built my grandsons we used 2x8x10' to put up as the area then put weedblock down in the area to stop weed/grass then filled it with sand. its big enough for him and his 4 friends and the sand is alot better since when he outgrows it the sand can go in the garden. I use a silver tarp for a cover and put 2 old tires in the middle to hold the tarp up so rain wont collect on it. We have cats and they dont like the tarp so they dont go in it. (we did have a chicken hatch her eggs under it the one year!) The sand gets warm in the sun so its comfortable to play in and no sharp edges to cut little hands and knees and sand washes off easy in a water fight!

I had pea gravel at my child care center and it was worse than sand, it also hurts more when you step on it barefooted in the house.

Kids put it up their noses, it gets stuck in ears, I really don't like it.

We had a 12'X20' sand box and before we went out a teacher did a walk by and checked for debris, like cat poo, and just scooped it out.

In preparation we dug about a foot deep then surrounded it from just below the grass level with landscaping timbers, pick something not splintery, the we ordered a truck load of sand from a local gravel place. It cost about $300 so you can do one much smaller much cheaper. The truckload of sand was over $200 of that cost.

I'd vote sand too - but just wanted to mention even though some moms say they never saw cats, etc go in there, its still VERY important to keep it covered somehow. If an animal does go in the sand, it can shed things like roundworms - then when your child has the sand on their hand and it makes its way to their mouth, its so easy to transfer parasites like that!
Have fun with your decision! :)

My vote would be for play sand. We have a sandbox and we put play sand in it. The kids, no matter how well they are watched, will carry buckets of dirt all over the yard. Things spill out. The kids can sometimes be shockingly creative out there. I would be concerned that I would wind up with pea gravel all over the yard, which sounds like a mess, the sand is barely noticeable. Besides that, you can sculpt and build with sand. If it rains and the sand gets wet, you can still use the sand box, with the gravel I imagine it will be more of a muddy mess. We have never had any issues with critters in the sandbox, but we are diligent about making sure the cover is put back on it when we are done playing. Sounds like a fun project, Good luck!

you can buy play sand at home depot its 5 bucks a bag. We end up w/ sand EVERYWHERE. what ever-it keeps them busy. we even have a neighbor w/ a cat and the cover doesn't alwys get put back on-I have never had cat poop in it. and it gets wet, and dries out. I think the kids like it after it rains-then it's more soupy.

pea gravel is something a 3 year old would love to taste. so no!!!!