Dozer debut: Indoor sandbox concept revives zero-screens play for JoCo children

A giant sandbox playroom in Johnson County evokes a simpler era, said Justin Finn, whose immersive entertainment concept for children opens Tuesday in Leawood.

“No screens,” explained Finn. “I like to say it’s how we grew up as kids. Imagination, the wheels turning.”

Justin Finn, Molly Kavanagh, and their children Birdie, 7, Poppy, 5, and Jack, 2; courtesy photo

Dozer — launched this week as the first of multiple locations alongside co-founder Molly Kavanagh — within a 1,200-square-foot space at the Ranch Mart North shopping center at 3812 W. 95th St.

The experience features a sandbox filled with seven tons of sand. Children, 8 and younger, take off their socks and shoes, and hop in, letting their imaginations run with more than 60 construction-themed toys: funnels, shovels, toy excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers, building blocks and more. Parents, grandparents and caregivers also can join in.

Finn and Kavanagh were first browsing social media over the holidays, looking for inspiration for their next endeavor, when they came across an immersive sandbox concept for children.

But instead of signing up as franchisees, the Overland Park couple created one of their own.

“We saw some similar concepts and thought of our son, Jack, age 2, who can sit in our backyard sandbox for hours and loves construction equipment,” Kavanagh said. “Parents being present with their children. Put their feet in the sand, literally, and play with their child which is harder to do with phones and electronics.”

Dozer in the Ranch Mart North shopping center at 3812 W. 95th St.; photo by Joyce Smith

The couple called their broker in late December and within 48 hours they had 10 possible spots to consider. One — the Ranch Mart location — was  “60 seconds” from their home. Their architect laid out the space, Finn said, noting city planners in Leawood were so easy to work with that he had to write three thank you letters.

Finn and Kavanagh are in final negotiations for a 1,700-square-foot space in Nall Valley Shoppes, 5316 W. 151st St., Leawood. If all goes as planned, it will open in late summer and could have a party room. Northlanders also have requested a location. 

But the couple want to make sure they keep a healthy work-family balance “while our little ones are growing up so quickly,” Finn said.

The duo had early inspiration for entrepreneurship.

Kavanagh’s father owned an Irish pub in Pittsburg, Kansas, where she spent Sunday mornings sweeping up peanuts and polishing the brass bar foot railing. As an adult she modeled and owned an antique store in New York. 

Finn took pride in the small businesses that sponsored his Little League teams. His firefighter grandfather also took up a side job — taking broken lamps, ovens and other discarded or garage sale finds to fix up and resale. 

“If only Facebook Marketplace was around then,” mused Finn, who previously owned restaurants in New York. (With the then-coming birth of their first child, they wanted to be closer to family and moved to Overland Park in 2017.)

Their children — Birdie, 7, Poppy, 5, and Jack, 2 — “worked” the Dozer booth at Saturday’s Ranch Mart Extravaganza, giving them a taste of entrepreneurship. With that gig and helping to clean the store, their parents paid them in “points” that they can use at Summer Salt Ice Cream Co. next door to Dozer. Birdie now wants to learn how to use the register. 

Kavanagh also wants to start a nonprofit called Daisy Dozer to help Birdie and other young girls connect with women executives and owners in the construction, architecture, engineering and  trades.

Dozer will have a deep clean by a professional crew once a week, they said. The sandbox also will be disinfected and aerated daily.

Customers pay $16 an hour for one child, $12 for the second child and $8 for the third.  

Dozer will ask for reservations to keep occupancy under 15 children at Ranch Mart North. 

Hours are tentatively 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily but could be expanded this summer. Sundays will be reserved for birthday parties.

Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.