We live about two minutes drive from the beach so it’s only natural that it’s one of our favourite places to visit as a family. There’s so much more you can do at the beach other than just building sandcastles and paddling in the sea so today, I’m going to share 10 ways you can have fun at the beach…
Be an Artist
Channel your creative side by taking a sketch pad and some pencils and just drawing whatever you see or if sketching isn’t your thing then get all artistic with seashells, seaweed and driftwood by making giant art in the sand.
We’ve done this so many times in the past and I love leaving our art behind for other people to come across.
Go on a Photo Walk
One of the reasons I love the beach so much is because it’s different every time we go – whether it’s new shells and rock pools to discover or random pieces of driftwood and seaweed. I love wandering with my camera and the kids enjoy wandering with me as they’ve always just done their own thing while I snap away.
Have a water fight with some cheap water pistols
My two always used to love having a water fight at the beach and the super cheap water pistols you can get from the pound shop are just as good as the more expensive ones for beach water fights. There’s a constant source of water at the beach which means the kids can just refill over and over again without trailing water through the kitchen as they would at home.
Fly a kite, or even a drone
We used to love flying a kite at the beach although we haven’t done it for a while to be honest – I’m sure we have a kite somewhere in the garage though so maybe we’ll head down to the beach with it if I can find it. We do have a drone that Master Frugal got for Christmas so we might even do that as well.
Play games in the sand
We used to love finding a big stick each and playing hopscotch and noughts and crosses together in the sand although if we have more time we have even been known to have a game of sand Pictionary or hangman. One of our favourite games though is beach bullseye where you draw a target in the sand and throw stones shells to see who can get the most points.
Watch the sunset
We love taking the dogs to the beach with a flask of hot chocolate to watch the sunset. It’s so relaxing – even if the kids are somewhere close by making a racket as they do whatever they’re doing.
Have a beach themed scavenger hunt
Write a list of things for the kids to find at the beach – a white shell, a flat stone, some seaweed and a piece of driftwood would all be good things to look for and collect. You could also add in things that they need to simply spot rather than collect – a dog, an ice cream, a kite and an inflatable are all fab ones for this.
Take a paddling pool
Bear with me for this one. 😉 A paddling pool is perfect for the younger ones who you would worry about being in the sea without you constantly holding their hands. A small paddling pool that you can pop next to you and fill with sea water means that the kids can play while you relax a bit more.
Get Sporty
Now that the kids are older, they like nothing more than kicking the football around the beach so we often take the football when we go and they’ll all kick the ball about while I sit and play on my phone. We also have a frisbee that we keep in the back of the car for a game every now and again.
Go at different times of the day
We love going at night as much as through the day and actually, sometimes we prefer it because there’s no-one else there but us. We go in all weather’s too and the beach in the rain with wellies on is almost as much fun as the beach in the warm weather.
So that’s a few ideas for you to have some fun on the beach this Summer which should be more than enough to keep you occupied. I hope you manage to try at least a few of them before the kids are back at school. 😉 .
And if you have a sand-hater in your family as we do (Mr Frugal, I’m looking at you here) I’ve just been reading some fab beach hacks. There are ideas on how to get sand off your feed and keep it out of your drinks which are two of his biggest bugbears about our trips to the beach. He even has a pair of trainers that are specifically for the beach as he refuses to take his shoes off because he hates how he can never get the sand from between his toes.
Master Frugal looked like he was going to take after his Dad in the sand hating department at one point but he soon realised the fun he could have far outweighed the sand between the toes issue.
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