Beach Games 3

Remove shoes get on the beach and The Chase Is On:

 The first player runs with a beach rake in hand… and leaves a wiggly trail. 

Give them a good start, it is hard work!!! 

Then let the players try and catch the leader… leave a gap between runners – not too far to dishearten and not too short that they can catch the player in front of them…

Beach Games 2

Fill the Bucket Race

Splits everyone into two teams (adults can join in too! Just be sure there are an even number of adults on both sides and the little kids and bigger kids are split up evenly on each team to make it fair). Have each team form a line by the shore.

Set up a buckets about 10 feet from the water’s edge. The object of the game is for each team to carry the water in their bare hands, or a small cup, to the bucket. 

Once a player fills the bucket then the next player in line can grab a handful of water and race to the bucket and so on until the bucket is filled. The first team to fill the bucket wins!

Beach Games 1

 We call this game - Spades - and it's by far our favourite beach game…

Really it is just an alternative version of musical chairs. 

Place a row of spades in the sand – one less than the number of players - and draw a start line in the sand some way away.

Race from the start line to the spades and grab one… one player is knocked out. Line the spades up again and remove one. Race again… until you have just one spade and the winner is the last to grab a spade

Simple crab lines

As I have mentioned before, in this house, we like all things to do with the sea and the girls really love to do some fishing.

One of their favourite summer evening activity is to take some home made lines down to our local quay and fish for shore crabs. 

The lines are really easy to make. All you need is a length of string about 4 meters for each line, some card, and the small net bags the washing powder tablets come in. you will also need some rashers of bacon diced up.

 (don't forget your line will need to reach the river or sea bed so don't choose anywhere too deep & make sure your line is long enough - if your river is more than 3 or 4 meters deep you may need to pop a pebble or weight of some kind in the bag to help take the line to the bottom)

All you do is take your bag, fill with bacon and attach the line. Cut the card into a small, hand size, rectangle and use it to roll the string on. Place in their buckets for safe transport and head to your nearest saltwater quay.

We have a few games whilst were crabbing - the obvious one being who can catch to most. Others we play are a few crab races where they choose their 'champion crab' and pop them on a start line about a meter from the water we then watch as they make their sideways run towards the sea - the first one is the winner - obviously!

And the last game - which is my husbands favourite and also any boys in our group! - is to place a pound coin in the bottom of a bucket, pour some crabs in the bucket as well and each take it in turn to grab the money - the kids get to keep the coins to add to their pocket money! 

All these games teach them to respect the animals and the water. It also shows them not be fearful of the crabs and we show them how to handle them properly so as not to hurt them - we all get to have a good look at them as well. 

And at the end of the day though, just a cheap fishing net can also provide hours of fun!!

Have a great weekend 

 Liz xx