Save Our Beloved Sandbox

For over 32 years, the Sandbox at 10th St has been the heart of our children's play-based learning—helping make countless memories, endless adventures, and the vital pulse of our children and parents’ community at Big and Tiny 10th St Preschool. It’s where friendships have blossomed, imaginations have soared, and children and parents have connected from across Los Angeles and the wider world, including many of you. It is more than just a sandbox—it’s a symbol of the joy, creativity, and connection that defines Big and Tiny 10th St.

Sadly, the recent Palisades fires have contaminated our beloved sandbox—both the large sandbox in our main courtyard and the smaller “Little School” sandbox in the front yard—with ash and toxins, making it unsafe for our children. Despite our best efforts to protect the sandbox with tarp coverings, the strong winds made it impossible, leaving the sand exposed to harmful contaminants from the urban nature of the Palisades fire fallout. As local health experts have told us, short- and long-term exposure to these toxins—including chemicals like isocyanates from household paints that cause asthma to well-known organic compounds like benzene, asbestos, and lead—poses serious health risks, especially to young children. Until we replace the sand, the Sandbox—the heart of 10th Street—is off-limits to our indoor space-confined children.

We need your help to bring the Sandbox back to life. Your contributions will go directly toward safely removing all of the sand and replacing it, ensuring that this treasured space can once again be a source of learning, growth, and play.

We’re calling on our 10th St. families, alumni, and supporters to come together and help us save the Sandbox. Please help us restore this vital part of our school and continue the legacy of joy it has brought to your children and ours and so many others over the years. Any amount helps. And your generosity will make a lasting impact, we intend, for generations to come in our beautiful school!

Thank you for helping us “Save the Sandbox”!

The Big and Tiny 10th St Team