DIY Magnetic Sand Table

Last week we had to make a trip to the doctor’s office. Besides listening to Caspar Babypants on the journey, the only thing that made my really sick toddler happy was our doctor’s very cool magnetic sand table. Simple to make one for us so I decided it’d be easy to make a DIY Magnetic Sand Table. Here is how we did it.

DIY Magnetic Sand Table

What you’ll need:

Fine grain sand – I purchased our sand at a local pet store. Amazon also sells a variety of play sand at reasonable prices.
A plastic storage container – We used a 28 quart Steralite brand. This one was shallow so that my sons could get into it easily.
A magnetic wand
Fun magnetic items – we used large, colorful paperclips, lids, marbles and letters
Two chairs or something to prop the table up

Our approach:
I placed a “splat” mat under the “table”, placed the storage container velcroed across two chairs, poured enough sand in to cover a thin later on the bottom of the container. You don’t want to pour a ton in or the magnetic part won’t work. I wanted a way for my sons to reach under (or go under) the container. So, as I mentioned, I used two chairs and velcro to hold the container on the edge of the chairs.

I used a small strip of velcro because I didn’t want to risk any damage to the chair. A longer strip would obviously make the container even more stable. I added the items to explore and play…