The Sandbox is a must visit for families at Hilton Head Island

When your family goes on vacation there are guaranteed to be a day or two out of the week that need something.  It could be too hot, too cold, bad weather or maybe the kids just need a day inside, but not inside the beach place that you’re renting.  On Hilton Head Island you have The Sandbox, an interactive children’s museum that far exceeds expectations that you have of a resort children’s museum.

Having been to a couple children’s museums in big cities I wasn’t expecting much from The Sandbox.   Hilton Head Island isn’t a big city and I was expecting a children’s museum in that size market, especially a beach town to be simple, quaint, but not too exciting for the parents or children.

The Sandbox isn’t a ‘museum’ per se.  Rather, it’s an activity house with some great rooms that have varied activities for children to do.  We spent three hours there without looking at our watch.  The only barometer that we used was our stomach started to rumble when it approached lunch.  The Sandbox is located just off Pope Avenue in what looks like a single family home that is neatly packed away with hundreds of crafts, books and other activities to keep children 1-8 occupied for hours.

The Sandbox is broken up into several different areas and has one entrance, so it’s easy for parents to relax when they’re in there.

The cockpit is an almost full size replica of what pilots see.  In this case kids can sit in the pilot’s chair, push buttons and pull back on levers as a movie of a plane in flight is shown on the screen in front of the cockpit.  The movie lasts about three minutes so there’s sometimes a line for this, but it is great fun and worth the wait.

The Pirate ship is a scaled down, front part of a ship that kids can climb on and pretend pirate play.  Right beside the pirate ship is a costume area, with a couple pirate outfits, just in case they didn’t dress as pirates that day.

The construction area for lack of a better term is an area with exposed 2 X 4’s, a pulley to play with and a large magnet board.  The magnet board has lots of pipes with magnets glued to them and balls, lots of balls to make a hanging ball maze on the wall.  Yes, it is as fun as it sounds.

There is also a small room with a pit of kinetic sand in the middle.  You’re at the beach, it’s rainy, too hot/cold or you’re just tired of the sun, it makes sense to have a place where the kids can still play with some sand.

If you have crawlers or young toddler then there is a room just for you too.  It’s packed with simple wood puzzles, large toys, big print books and small toys for them to crawl on and burn off some toddler energy.

The upstairs of The Sandbox is huge and packed with things to do.  Puppets, pretend veterinary toys, train sets to play with, an electric train set to look at, hundreds of books, dozens of more difficult puzzles, LEGOS, and an activity table with sheets of blank construction paper, paint, pens and more.  We spent an hour upstairs without being bored at all.

Entrance to The Sandbox is $6 for adults and children 1 and up, $5 for seniors 65+ and active military, children under 1 are free and annual memberships are $100.  During the off season their hours will fluctuate and on certain days during the peak season they’ll fill up quickly.  To check their hours during your visit just call them at 843-842-7645 or dig their website.

You can’t eat inside, but they do have a large front porch that you can do so.  Re-entry isn’t allowed, but you can eat out there and go back in.  There are also a couple fast food restaurants nearby so you can send someone to go get food and bring it back to maximize playtime.

The Sandbox on Hilton Head Island is a place that you and your children will want to visit.  Sure bad weather at the beach can be a bummer; but this place is so much fun that you’ll want to factor in a couple hours during your visit to see it, even if the weather is great.