Wickey Flip Sand Pit review

Okay, okay, so the weather has broken and it's flipping freezing out there just now, and it really isn't the time for sandpit reviews, but it couldn't be helped, and my 4 year old doesn't seem to believe that anyway...so the Flip 120x125cm Sand Pit from Wickey is a treasure.

When it arrived it looked a bit daunting...

And in fact when we unwrapped it, it was a collection of specially shaped pieces of wood, screws and other bits, and an instruction sheet. My partner is more of a fine electronics specialist, but he wasn't deterred, and set to work.

It was actually really quick! Our youngest stayed with him the whole time 'helping' and didn't have any chance to get bored, and the sandpit size and shape was evident after only about 20 minutes.

Ta-dah! After around 90 minutes all the wood was in place and my partner's knuckles were scratch and blood free, so it really was a success.

The design is brilliant. Two strong bench seats with backs, that are hinged to fold down to create a lid for the sandpit. You don't need to find anywhere to store a lid when you are using the sandpit, and the addition of seats really did please our 6 year old, who has never been happy to sit in sand.

We were also supplied with good strong corner protectors which again took only moments to fit. The screw holes are not pre-drilled, but the wood is nice and soft, so pilot holes weren't necessary.

The last addition is the sandpit liner. A hemmed plastic reinforced sheet that is plenty big enough to fill the sandpit and rise up the sides to contain the sand.

This has honestly been the toy that our 4 year old has played with the most over the last month, he absolutely loves it. The seats mean that even though it's getting colder, he can still play outside with his hoodie on and be warm enough - although the sandpit has moved off the soggy grass!

Sometimes he even manages to get people to join in with him....although I don't think they need a lot of encouragement most of the time...

The Wickey Flip Sand Pit is brilliant, and we love it. We never thought it would have so much use so late in the year, and I can't wait until next Summer when they can play with it properly with water and make a real mess.
It was much quicker to put up than anticipated, and is really strong and sturdy. Moving the whole thing took moments and the lining hasn't needed tacked into place, it stays where it's put. When the bad weather hits we can scoop it up and store it in the garage until Spring - when we will revisit this review.

Wickey make tons of lovely and clever, mainly wooden, outdoor toys, and the prices are good. Our sandpit is currently on offer at £69.66, the Set of 4 plastic sand pit corner protectors
is on offer at £5.70 and the 3W Safe Sand Foil 200x200cm is also on offer at £6.11. Total cost right now is £81.47, with approx 2 hours to erect. I think that compares really well with the plastic models I've previously had, which are much smaller and less wet weather-friendly (this is very important if you're in the UK, even more so in Manchester, the swampland of the North-West).

We were sent our sandpit for review.