Our Story
Built for the teacher at the front of the room.
Sandbox started with a simple observation: one of the most important jobs in the world also comes with some of the most tedious paperwork. We set out to change that.
Where it started
Two students. One overworked teacher. A problem worth solving.
Matthew and Griffin are university students who, like most people their age, didn't give much thought to what happens after the school bell rings. That changed when they saw what their older brother — an elementary school teacher they admire — was actually going through.
Late nights building lesson plans from scratch. Weekends spent formatting worksheets. Hours of prep for every hour of teaching. The tools available to him were fragmented, clunky, or just not designed with teachers in mind at all.
So they built Sandbox — not for a class project, not for a startup competition, but because someone they love needed a better tool. The goal was always the same: create something that works with teachers, not something that creates more work for them.
"We want teachers to feel like they're a conductor of an orchestra. The classroom should flow into the noise of learning and student connection."
Matthew Peters
Co-Founder, Sandbox
What we believe
The principles behind every feature
Teacher-First
Every decision we make starts with one question: does this actually make a teacher's day easier? If the answer is no, we don't ship it.
AI That Assists, Not Replaces
Sandbox is built to amplify what great teachers already do — not to replace the human relationship at the centre of every classroom.
Privacy by Design
Student data is sacred. Sandbox is built FERPA-compliant from the ground up — security and privacy are features, not afterthoughts.
The team
Who's behind Sandbox
Matthew Peters
Co-Founder
Matthew is a university student who watched his older brother — an elementary school teacher — spend his evenings buried in prep work instead of enjoying his craft. That frustration became the spark for Sandbox.
Griffin
Co-Founder
Griffin is the technical backbone of Sandbox, building the systems that make complex lesson planning feel effortless. He believes great software should get out of the way and let people do their best work.
6+ hrs
saved per teacher per week
10 min
to your first full lesson plan
4.9 / 5
average teacher rating
100%
FERPA compliant
Ready to get your time back?
Join teachers who are spending less time planning and more time teaching.