The best beach games for the kids

Image: Pixabay

Forget sand moulds, footballs, shovels and beachball rackets; You don’t have to carry your break for these beach games. (Except for that bottle of wine, which you suddenly have room for.) That’s what we call beach fun.

1. Carry two ice cups of water

Sure, honey, can you have an ice cream. With the cups they are sweet for the rest of the afternoon. Poke a few holes in the bottom, let the kids fill them in the sea, and whoever has the fullest cup of water when he gets back to the towel wins. Also works fine with the disposable cups for lemonade, which you probably already had with you. A beach game can be that simple.

2. Watch out for jellyfish

Water balloons: who can live without? Weigh nothing and always fit in your bag. Draw two lines in the sand, place filled water balloons between them, and let the children take turns walking between them blindfolded (with their own shirt/shirt/your bikini top). Whoever steps on a ‘jellyfish’ is out. Oh, and whoever clears up the most balloons at the end wins – but you won’t tell that until later, of course.

3. Shell dance

Chair dance, but slightly different. Have the children collect the largest shells possible, one less than the number of people you are with. Draw a circle in the sand and place the shells in the middle. The children run in circles around the circle, and at your signal everyone picks up one shell from the mountain with their toes. The last person who does not have a shell is out. For each subsequent round you use one less shell, but you get that.

4. Sand Hints

Not suitable for the little ones, but hilarious (and: you can just sit next to it, with your feet in the surf). Create teams or play individually. One person in turn builds a sand animal or object in the wet sand. And then: guess what. Also fun: draw rebuses in the sand – for the pre-teens in the group. Prefer an easier game? Make butter, cheese and eggs.

5. Long jump

Always a hit: long jump. Draw a starting line in the sand, have the other children mark where the contestant lands, and you… wave them happily from your towel.

Also read: This is how you don’t lose your child on the beach (and that’s how you find him again)

6. Shoot

Okay, requires a bit of lugging, but not worth mentioning: take about four light ping pong or beach balls with you, put them on the necks of sand-filled water bottles and shoot them off with a water pistol. Endless fun!

7. Beachcombing

The secret to making this succeed: give the children an assignment. ‘Collect sixty shells, one crab and ten plastic objects’, for example. The first to complete the collection wins. Children sweet, beach clean, and they learn to count (or be patient) too.

8. Stocking-slinging

haha! Finally a target for that incomprehensible amount of orphaned socks in your washberg. Fill them with sand, and just swing. They go really fast with wet sand, so filling with loose sand may be a better option (on a deserted stretch of beach, please): they produce a spectacular dust bomb.

9. Windshield Tag

Only suitable if you are tired of sunbathing yourself: draw two lines in the sand on either side of your windscreen, about one and a half meters away. Make two groups on each side of the screen, and place one participant along each sideline. The kids (more fun: call them sharks) in the field have to try to flee to the other side of the windshield, without the ‘fishermen’ on the sidelines throwing them off with a water balloon.

10. Treasure Digging

Ideal if you want to stretch out yourself. Hide different beach items (don’t forget where, otherwise you’ll be digging treasure yourself afterwards) and give directions from your bed. The child with the most items wins.

11. Kite flying

This also requires a lot of lugging, but today’s kites (especially the smaller ones) are folded like a practical package – that makes a difference. Although of course you will never get it back so neatly in the packaging.

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