ᐅ Sandbox made from deep-edge concrete blocks 2x2m – shading considerations

Hello everyone,

Next to the terrace, I had a 2x2m (6.5x6.5 ft) frame built by our landscaper using curb stones.

I filled it with sand, so the area is flush with the lawn and looks great. Our child plays in it, and everything fits well – except for the shading.

We don’t have any attachment points nearby, unfortunately. It gets very windy in our garden, so any shading solution should be well secured.

I’m currently considering making something myself here – but I always like to ask for advice here, since there are often good tips and ideas!

I was thinking of attaching four stainless steel “posts” screwed on each corner from the outside (digging up a bit of lawn and using anchors) and then fastening a sunshade to them.

Do you think this is the best or easiest solution?

Additionally, I would like to have a seating area, since the about 15cm (6 inches) wide curb stones are not really suitable for that. I thought about simply anchoring 2-3 boards along the entire length to the curb stones, which should be the easiest way here as well, right?

Looking forward to your suggestions! Especially with new builds, I’m sure some have built a sandbox with curbstones like this – maybe someone else had the same problem?

Simple sunshade. It’s affordable and flexible; if the child soon prefers to play on the Xbox, there won’t be some random item cluttering the garden.

Arauki11 schrieb:

Simple sun umbrella. It’s affordable and flexible; and when the child soon prefers to play on the Xbox, there’s no permanent item left in the garden.

The sun umbrella needs to be set in concrete. We already have two sun umbrellas concreted in front of our patio to provide shade. This works perfectly. One of the sun umbrellas is often repurposed and mostly covers the sandbox. But it feels like we need five sun umbrellas! If we didn’t have wind, I’d agree with you. However, with strong gusts of wind, the sun umbrella immediately turns inside out.

Prager91 schrieb:

I was thinking about attaching four stainless steel posts, one on each exterior corner (digging a bit in the lawn, using anchors), and then fixing a sunshade sail to them.

Do you think this is the best or easiest solution?

That won’t solve your problem because the sun is never directly overhead 100% of the time. So part of the area you want shaded will always be in the sun.
I’m also a fan of using an umbrella and currently shade the sandbox with a Glatz round umbrella (set in concrete next to the sandbox). The advantage is that it can be moved and adjusted to the position of the sun. So far, that’s been the best solution for us.

For us, the sandbox topic was resolved relatively quickly. After that, other things became more interesting. Usage time was maybe around 3 years. I wouldn’t invest too much energy or money into it. A simple umbrella and two ground anchors might already be enough to adjust the umbrella depending on the sun’s position.

By the way, for the sandbox, the important factor is not the size but the depth.

I would also take a pragmatic and straightforward approach. For example, something like this: