Planning a beach day with your children, but don’t want to worry about spending tons of money on games to keep them occupied? There are many simple solutions to that dilemma that you can take advantage of during a day at the beach. Spending time on the ocean does not always mean spending a lot of money on needless snacks and such. Below are 5 cheap beach ideas that will keep your kids entertained for hours.
- Challenge your children to go on a hunt for seashells. Tell them to collect as many shells as possible in a bucket. After a plethora of different shells have been collected, tell your child to make a pretty design in the sand. You may challenge them to create different animals in the sand out of shells, or have them write out their names with the shells that they have found. The only thing you will need for this activity is a bucket and your children’s imaginations.
- Go out to a local dollar store and purchase a kiddie pool. Bring the kiddie pool to the beach along with you and your family. Fill the pool up with ocean water. You can even make a little game out of it, bringing buckets back and forth from the water up to the pool, sort of like a relay race. That kiddie pool will keep your children occupied and having fun for hours and you don’t have to worry about waves or watching them intently afraid a current will take them out like you do when they are in the ocean. For young children or kids that are not strong swimmers, a small pool can be very helpful.
- Have a sandcastle-building contest. Sandcastle items can be purchased at any local dollar store and that is all you will need to make sandcastles. The rest of the items needed for your children to build their own kingdom are water and sand which can be found in very large amounts at the beach. Award the kids with a snack when their masterpieces are finished.
- Why not have a picnic on the beach? Make a day of it, preparing food at home and then packing the car up for the day’s journey. Bring plenty of snacks, sandwiches, and drinks. Don’t forget to pack a big blanket!
- Go to a public beach. Some beaches require an admission fee or hefty parking fees. Particularly if you are in a state that you are not a resident of, you might find that you have to pay a fee to go to the beach. Try to avoid beaches that you have to pay to get into.
Beach trips with children do not always have to cost a lot of money and be filled with expensive toys. A simple beach picnic and toys bought at the dollar store will be sufficient enough.
I assure you, your children will love all these ideas and have a great time at the beach!