The Playful Parent™

Games, crafts, and activities for playtime with parents and kids

WHY WE PLAY: Research has shown that the ability to play is a critical part of maintaining a happy lifestyle, of sustaining social relationships, and fostering a creative and innovative personality. Play actually shapes the neuron paths in the brain and makes us smarter and more adaptable to life circumstances. Additionally, a healthy play-life as a child is a surprisingly accurate predictor of career success as an adult. ¹

And...it's fun to play. So what are you waiting for?

Use this Playful Parent idea to share a little bit of play-life with your children today!

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BEACH TOY BONANZA!

You’re heading to the beach (yes, a beach at the lake counts too) and need some fun new water and sand toys to try out. And who wants to spend money on stuff like this—not us! Have your child help you make these beach toys, and then try a few of our ideas for using them.

Summary: Make sand and water toys from stuff you have around the house.

Best For: Preschoolers and school-aged kids (but teens will have fun with these too!)

Seasonal/Holiday Focus: Perfect for hot summer days at the beach.

Supplies:

• sharp knife (be sure only adults use this)

• scissors

• 1 gallon plastic milk containers

• 2 liter soft drink bottles

• ½ gallon coated-cardboard milk containers

Before you begin…

Thoroughly wash the containers to remove any soft drink or milk residue.

When you’re ready to play!

Let’s start with a 1 gallon milk container. Use the sharp knife to poke a hole in the side, lower than where the handle is. Then put the scissors through this hole (it’s your starting point) and cut off the lower half of the container.

How to use this at the beach:

With the handle on the side, you’ve now got perfect scoop for sand and water. Leave the lid on to scoop up water and sand, take it off to make a funnel. Perfect for making big piles of sand or digging deep holes, filling moats with water, and for water fights.

Next let’s try a 2 liter soft drink bottle. Again, use a sharp knife to punch a starting hole about half-way down the bottle, and then cut around the bottle with scissors.

How to use this at the beach:

These are also great scoops for water and sand, but aren’t quite as easy to use since they don’t have a handle. But they have an added bonus of being great for shaping sand castles. Fill these with damp sand and let your imagination go wild. Make a sand wall with them by using the form over and over in a row, make castle shapes (then use shells to carefully carve out tiny windows), or create a sand rocket ready to blast off!

And now for the milk cartons. Tape or staple the top shut, and then use the knife and scissors to cut in half as you did with the other containers. These are not sturdy enough to dig with, but are ideal for shaping damp sand.

How to use this at the beach:

Use the lower half of the carton as a form for sand bricks. These are great for walls, towers, roads, and so on. The top half, with it’s peaked shape is great for castle turrets, spikes on the tops of walls, roofs for houses, and so on.

Keep imagining!

And remember, when you leave the beach you don’t have to cart these home. Toss them into the trash before you get to the car so you leave more sand at the beach than in your car. You can make new ones before you return.

¹ Source: Play by Stuart Brown, M.D. (New York: Avery, a member of the Penguin Group USA, 2009.) Pp. 4-13

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