Step2 Naturally Playful Sandbox

My husband and I bought this for our 2 1/2-year-old daughter and she absolutely loves it! She plays in it every day. We liked the idea of natural look so it would not stand out like a sore thumb in the backyard. It is big enough to hold my daughter and two of her friends. She also has a 6-year-old cousin who loves to play in it. They play for hours in it. The sides have little blocks on the corners for the kids to sit while in the sandbox and they are sturdy enough for an adult to sit on. The cover is high and rounded at the top so we are able to store all of her sand toys in the box. We are very happy with this purchase and would recommend this Step 2 product to anyone looking for a sandbox for young children.

Great sand pit! However buy safe sand. There are 4 grades of sand(Fill, plaster, masonary, and Play) and only one grade is suitable for children's sand boxes:play sand. It should be silica free (depending on the state you live in) and is often sterilized. For this reason it is more expensive than the fill sand that is sold in the hardware store.

Crystalline silica, a colorless mineral, also called quartz, is an ingredient in sand, exposure to crystalline silica dust can cause lung diseases such as silicosis, inhaling airborne crystalline silica dust also has been associated with other diseases such as tuberculosis and lung cancer.

I want to thank M. Beatrice for planting the seed in my mind about "safe" play sand. I read the review, bought this sand box for my one-year old daughter and went to Home Depot to buy Play Sand. The label said it was specifically for use in sandboxes and washed, filtered, etc., so I bought four bags.

When I was unloading it at home, the red warning label caught my eye "Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer". I couldn't believe it, so checked the sand manufacturer's website [...] and sure enough, it's silica sand, known to cause cancer. Good grief and it's legal to sell this stuff for children's sand boxes?

Yes, it's cheap, less than $20 for 200 lbs. But what price do we put on our kid's health? Back it goes and I begin my search for exorbitantly priced "safe sand". (For ideas, type in "safe play sand" in your search engine.) But who cares? At least I won't have to worry about my daughter spending hours... Read more