37 Beach Activities for Kids to Have the Best Summer Yet 

From identifying seashells to making animals in the sand, there are lots of great beach activities for kids of all ages. Get the whole family involved in these fun games that make a day at the beach even better.

Fun Beach Activities for Kids of All Ages

Whether your kids are toddlers or teens, everyone will love these great ideas for what to do at the beach.

Collect Pebbles and Beach Glass

child holding sea beach glass in hands

Searching for pretty pebbles and pieces of beach glass can be a fun way to spend a day at the beach. When you get home, you can display these treasures in a bowl for everyone to admire.

Write a Disappearing Message or Picture

There’s something exciting about seeing how much of a message or picture you can create in wet sand before the waves wash it away. Kids can enjoy racing the waves and reading or admiring one another’s work. Snap phone photos of the work if they want you to preserve it.

Have a Beach Scavenger Hunt

Before you head to the beach, make a list of items for kids to find there. You can include seaweed, shells, rocks, sand, driftwood, and anything else you know they might be able to find. Give them buckets and the list and see who can find the most items.

Read a Beach Book Out Loud

Beach reads are fun for everyone, even kids. Choose a beach-themed book or just something light and entertaining. Then gather everyone around on the beach towels and enjoy the story.

Play Beach Dodgeball

If the beach isn’t too crowded, have a game of beach dodgeball. You can use a beach ball if it isn’t too windy. Split everyone into teams and have a blast trying to tag each other with the ball.

Have a Beach Music Party

Make a playlist of your favorite beach music (think tropical songs, the Beach Boys, and anything playful). Set up your phone or some portable speakers and have a dance party with the kids on the beach.

Make Sand Angels

girl making sand angel at beach

This warm weather version of snow angels is a cool beach activity for kids. You can practice getting up without disturbing the angel print, and then kids can add seaweed hair, shell eyes, and other beachy touches to their angels.

Build a Beach Fort

Find lots of driftwood sticks or use your beach chairs as supports and then spread beach blankets or towels over the top to create a great fort. Kids will love hanging out in the fort, and it’s ideal for when they need a little break from the sun.

Blow Bubbles

For kids, bubbles are a great beach activity that creates even more magic at an already magical place. Bring along a big bottle of bubbles to refill smaller ones and choose a sheltered spot where the wind won’t instantly destroy their creations.

Fly a Kite

The beach is the perfect place to fly a kite, since it’s usually windy and tends to have few trees. Choose a spot without a lot of people and help kids get the kites up in the air. They’ll love directly interacting with the wind.

Dig a River

Grab the shovels and have a group project creating a river near the edge of the water. You can even construct stick bridges across your river and add sand castles to its banks.

Educational Beach Games and Activities

Many fun beach activities for the family are also educational. There’s a lot to learn at the beach, so try one of these great ideas.

Identify Seashells

Pick up a guide to seashells in your area or do some research ahead of your beach trip to learn about the various species you might encounter. Then work with kids to match the shells they find to the guide.

Find Tidepools and Habitats

If you’re visiting a beach with tidepools, this can be a wonderful learning opportunity for kids about habitats. Even if you’re going to a lake beach or a place without tidepools, you can talk about the creatures that live by the shore and examine the features of their habitat.

Clean Up Litter

Learn about environmental concerns and help out by collecting litter together at the beach. This will help kids feel like they are connected to the world and making a difference.

Catch and Release Hermit Crabs

boy with hermit crab

Hermit crabs are fascinating for kids, since they use the discarded shells of other sea creatures. Make a game of catching the crabs and examining them, then letting them go. Kids can even keep notes about the sizes of crabs they find and what the crabs were using as a shell.

Use a Magnifying Glass

Bring along a magnifying glass to see what the objects you find at the beach look like up close. Kids will be able to see the details in a grain of sand, the texture of a shell, or the features of a tiny insect.

Break Out the Metal Detector

Metal detecting can be a fruitful beach activity for the family. Rent or borrow a metal detector if you don’t already have one, and see what kinds of treasure you can find buried in the sand. This is an educational activity, since you can also discuss the history of the objects you discover, or even make up stories about them.

Count Bird Species

sandpiper bird beach

Buy a bird book or borrow one from your local library and bring it along. See how many bird species the family can find. You can snap cell phone photos of the birds if you need more time to identify them.

Look for Animal Tracks

Wet sand is a great place to find animal tracks. Walk along the beach and ask everyone to point out any tracks they see. Some animals, like seagulls, will make obvious tracks, but others can be a lot more subtle. This can be a great educational beach activity for kids of all ages.

Measure the Waves

Bring along a yard stick and measure the waves. Have kids note the measurements in a notebook and see if there’s a pattern to when the waves are larger or smaller. This is a hands-on way to teach math and measurement and have fun at the beach too.

Collect Samples for a Microscope

If you have a microscope at home, you can have fun collecting samples at the beach. Bring lots of little containers for water, seaweed, sand, insects, mud, and anything else. At home, you can make slides and look at what is going on microscopically.

Creative and Unique Beach Activities

The beach is a great place to get creative. Make something fun and interesting with these cool beach activities for kids.

Build a Driftwood Teepee

Get the whole family involved in making a driftwood teepee. Gather all the long pieces of driftwood you can find and dig down into the sand to give them a solid base. Then arrange the sticks in a teepee shape.

Create Rock Spirals in the Sand

For this fun beach activity for kids, have everyone gather lots of rocks and stones. Pick a place to start the spiral and begin arranging your rocks outward from the center. You’ll end up with a piece of temporary beach art that was amusing to make together.

Keep a Beach Journal

girl writing in journal at beach

If you go to the beach often, keep a journal about your adventures. You can start with a blank book and let everyone write a sentence or two about what makes that day’s beach visit special. Kids can also draw pictures to communicate the events of the day.

Construct Sand Animals

Build animals out of sand and use sticks, rocks, shells, and other materials to embellish them. From sea turtles to penguins, there are lots of fun animals to construct together.

Make a Landscape Painting

The view at the beach can be inspiring for kids of all ages. Bring along some paper and watercolor paints and create a masterpiece about your day with the sand and surf.

Take Photos With a Waterproof Camera

girl taking picture with disposable camera at beach

Pick up a waterproof disposable camera and give each family member a turn documenting the day. Sure, you may get some random shots when you get your film back, but it’s fun to see what the beach day looked like from each kid’s perspective.

Create Sun Prints

The beach is the perfect place to make sun prints. Pick up some sunlight-sensitive paper and lay things like shells, seaweed, and other treasures on the surface. Let the sun hit the paper for the specified time and develop it according to the directions. This can be a great way to make art from your day at the beach.

Kids Games to Play at the Beach Without Equipment

You don’t need lots of equipment and toys to have a great time by the water. In fact, there are lots of beach games and activities that don’t require any equipment at all.

Have a Game of Beach Charades

Take turns acting out beach-related words or concepts. You can come up with a list of ideas ahead of time, or simply just look around and come up with something to act out. Everyone will have fun guessing.

Play Impromptu Tic-Tac-Toe

boys playing tic tac toe on beach

Grab a stick or shovel and make a giant tic-tac-toe game in the wet sand, or arrange some sticks to create a game grid. Then use shells or stones in different colors for your markers and compete to see who can win the most games.

Have a Beach Relay Race

Form the family into two teams and have a relay race down the beach. You can choose something, such as a rock or shell, that one person needs to pass to the next team member. The rules are flexible, and you can scale this beach game for kids of any age.

Hold a Sand Mermaid Contest

Split into teams and see who can make their partner into the best sand mermaid. This is like burying someone in the sand, but you have to create a tail with the person’s lower half. Sculpting the tail and adding shells and details will help you win the game.

Find the Strangest Thing at the Beach

Set a timer and give everyone five minutes to find the strangest thing at the beach and bring it back. You can set rules about how far kids can go or how close they can get to the water. When everyone returns, they can show the rest of the family what they found.

Beach Day Activities for School

Even if you aren’t really going to the beach, school beach days can be a lot of fun. Channel the real beach experience with these fun beach activity ideas:

Make Shell Necklaces and Art

Have plenty of shells, string, beads, glue, and other materials on hand so kids can create shell art and necklaces. This can be a fun and creative way to add beach flair to an ordinary day.

Create a Sand Handprint

Bring the beach to you by making a handprint out of sand. This is a fun and easy beach craft for kids of all ages. Simply make a handprint in glue and then sprinkle lots of sand over the top. Let it dry and shake off the excess.

Make a Beach in a Jar

beach in a jar craft with sand and shells

You can make your very own beach to take home, whether you’re doing a beach day at school or actually going to the beach. Grab a clean canning jar and fill it with layers of sand, shells and rocks. It’s a fun sensory activity for everyone.

Have a Water Balloon Toss

At the beach or outside at school, fill lots of water balloon with water and take turns tossing them at a target. This can be a fun way to practice hand-eye coordination and have a great time.

source: lovetoknow.com

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