Printer friendly version | help

Sandpit

Sand pit

Proposed sandpit adventure playground improvements

So many little engineers are building dams and bridges at the sandpit that the infrastructure needs some fixing.

At a staff site meeting on Friday June 11, 2010, program staff asked for a more solid and roomier water turn-off box, so that it would be easier to turn the water off and keep the box locked at night or on rainy days. That way the hose would not kink and the water could come out easily during the times of play. At night, when no kids are there, nobody would be able to turn on the water and waste it.

Besides that, the sandpit water tap has no turnoff. The old tap from Lee Valley no longer suits. A tap such as the one at the waterplay/sandplay area in Wychwood Park would work better.

Here's the distance the pipes would need to be laid, to go from the existing in-ground outlet to the spot where the Lee valley tap often stands.

Read more >>

Correspondence

E-mail to John Abela, Technical Services supervisor, from Jutta Mason, June 19 2010

I thought we might have a hard time showing you what we wanted for the sandpit, but it turned out you were already somewhat on the same page. That meeting was a nice surprise. After some years of confusion about the City's attention to the sandpit/adventure playground part of the park, I had the impression from both you and Doug Muir that you intend to make it work.

Below I've compiled what we talked about at our meeting, using Mayssan's (on-site staff) notes. Can you check to see if yours match?

1. Water:

• water outlet: within the next 2-3 weeks, Tech Services will be installing a larger irrigation box, with a hose connector so that a hose can also be attached. Also there will be turn-off inside the box, for the sandpit water tap. You''ll drill a hole for the hose to pass through, and also put a hasp on the box so it can be locked with a city padlock.
• sandpit tap: the sandpit tap will be located just inside the northwest corner of the log enclosure. The tap will be secured in a cedar housing made for child height, connected underground to the water outlet. It will have the sturdiest handle possible, easy to turn on (and leave on) or off. The tap will be threaded so that a garden hose can be connected if necessary.
• water drainage: to the immediate north of the lane way fence, tech services will construct a French drain about 100 square feet (?) in size, made by excavating the soil to a depth of about 18 inches and replacing it with a layer of gravel, then filter cloth, then beach sand. This work will be carried out in the fall.

2. Sand:

• enlarging the sandpit enclosure: within the next 2 - 3 weeks, Tech Services will be
• (1) moving the existing logs to enlarge the sandpit area to the south by 5 - 10 feet, and adding some logs from Forestry to enclose the larger area.
• (2) replacing existing sand into the log enclosure: to lower the areas around the enclosure and put more sand back inside.
• (3) levelling out the children's excavations from the sandpit down to the laneway.
• (4) knocking off the protruding top of the former circus tightrope holder, and removing the remaining tightrope post.
• (5) Picking up the junk wood that on-site staff put aside.

Important note:

• On-site park program staff will be notified the day before the five elements of sand maintenance work are scheduled, and the work will be done in the presence of one of those program staff. That will also give them a chance to pile all toys and wood to the side of the adventure playground area.

E-mail to dufferingrovefriends listserv, June 19 2010

Dear playground users,

Just an update about the concerns many of us share about wasting water at the sandpit/adventure playground. There was a very good site meeting with Parks Tech Services staff on Friday, and it looks as though - with help from Councillor Giambrone -- some long-awaited improvements are going to happen soon. Tech Services staff are going to instal a proper, heavy-duty tap that people can turn off and on (not running all the time) and a much stronger water box that staff can lock easily after they turn off the main water supply every evening.

A backhoe will come in to relocate the sand several times this season, and in the fall, the staff will create a sizable French drain at the bottom before the mud goes into the storm sewer.

Thanks goes to park neighbour Emily Weedon, who happened upon the site meeting and made an eloquent case for better water management, so the Tech Services guys didn't only hear it from the park's program staff. Thanks also to the school classes having their park day, so that the sandpit was full of little engineers, and the Tech Services staff could finally see what program staff have been talking about.

As far as I can see, Tech Services took it all to heart and are going to help us make the sandpit work better. Wonderful, since it looks like it's going to be a busy summer.

Read more >>

posted May 1, 2004

Sand pit play

The Lee Valley tap and the shovels will be out again. Every year we have to buy new round shovels, since about ten get stolen over the course of the season. That's not bad, when you take into account the hundreds of kids who get to be little engineers in the sand pit, digging riverbeds and building bridges and tipis.

This year we were unhappy because the price of shovels had almost doubled (at Wal-mart and at Home Depot). But then we went to Rona's at the old stockyards, and were delighted to find they were still selling short shovels for $5.49. We loaded a dozen shovels into the shopping cart, still wrapped up in a bunch from being shipped to the store, and we tried to bargain for an even lower price. The store's "team leader" we spoke to, Maureen, was very nice but she showed us on the computer that they were making only 22 cents per shovel profit already. So we left well enough alone and bought them at that price. Each shovel has "PARK SHOVEL" prominently marked in red. Please, if you see anyone trying to take one home, ask them not to.

Safety note: back in 1993 there was a community meeting to find out what people wanted in the park. An adventure playground aimed at older kids was high up on the list, and that's how we got the sand pit. But it turns out that all the kids, of all ages, love the sand pit. That's wonderful, but please remember: the older kids have first rights. Grown-ups, if you're worried about your little ones because the playing is too advanced, take them to the little sandbox. Don't get mad at the older kids for using shovels and doing elaborate building projects. On the other hand, every kid using a shovel has to be careful, and most of them are (we have far fewer injuries in the sandpit than in the regular playground). If anyone sees a child who seems to be unaware of how to handle a shovel (swinging it, using it to be pushy, throwing it) any nearby adult has the power to remind the child to be careful or, if there's no improvement, to take the shovel away and find a park staff. Adults used to look out for (and even admonish) other people's kids, not so long ago, and we can do it again.

posted May 1, 2004

Sand play in history

The first Metro Parks Commissioner, after World War Two, was Tommy Thompson, much beloved for his love of parks and his good sense. (He put up signs in the parks: please walk on the grass.) We're doing some research at the Toronto Archives for this year's annual report, and we came across a speech he gave at a Parks Conference, in which he told his colleagues: "I passed a playground the other day in which I saw a sandbox that I suspect was twelve feet square. To me, this is an insult to the sand area concept. The time has come when we've got to get bigger in our thinking and realize that, when a group of kids want to carry out something that stimulates their imagination - and this is one of the things we should be responsible for promoting - we should be putting in a sand area half as big as this auditorium. We should be putting in the kind of sand that kids can use to build, and we should not only keep it clean every day, but make sure that it's moist enough to do something with."

posted May 1, 2004

The "Big Backyard" -- how Dufferin Grove's sandpit developed

Shaded by many tall Norway maples, it's got some stump tables and long logs for balancing, and even some concrete anchors for fastening a circus-stunts cable. But its main joy is the sandpit - an oval of sand about 20 feet wide by 40 feet long, ringed by big wooden logs. It was put into the park in 1993. A bulldozer came and dug a hole about two feet deep, and loaded the dark soil into a couple of Mack trucks, which took it away. Read more >>

hosted by parkcommons.ca | powered by pmwiki-2.2.0-beta65. Content last modified on June 15, 2010, at 12:59 PM EST