Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact / PR
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Garden
    • What to Plant Now
    • Garden Jobs this Month
    • Grow Your Own
    • Gardening with Children
    • Garden Tips
    • Garden Design
    • Houseplants
    • In Season Now
    • Birth Month Flowers
  • Interiors
    • Interior Design Tips
    • Living Room
    • Kitchen & Dining
    • Bedroom
    • Bathroom
    • Family Home
    • Product Showcase
    • Food
  • Nature
    • Exploring Nature
    • Days Out
    • Travel
  • Craft
  • Reviews
  • Giveaways

Beach craft with natural materials

September 8, 2016 by Catherine 10 Comments

nature craft at the seaside

We had a big family gathering in Devon over the bank holiday weekend, and the kids made the most of the chance to get creative with some lovely beach nature play.

Our first beach trip of the weekend consisted mainly of body surfing.  However, as the tide had just started to go out there was lots of very wet sand, which the youngest cousins loved crafting with.  It was so wet, you could drizzle it through your fingers to create some crazy-looking sculptures, like this one which became a fairytale castle.

beach nature craft with wet sandSunday saw us all heading to the beach again to enjoy the sunshine and let off steam.  The kids always launch straight into a shell hunt as soon as they hit the sand, and it wasn’t long before some more beach craft started to take shape.

butterfly beach craft with natural materials

This little shell person was a great prompt to find shells in different shapes and sizes.

shell person beach craft with natural materials

And of course, huge clumps of seaweed make perfect mermaid’s hair…

mermaid beach craft with natural materials

I’m not sure which family member created this last one.  While it isn’t strictly a nature craft, I absolutely agree with the sentiment!

beach love heart

I do love how the seaside offers a completely different selection of natural materials to get creative with.  I also like the transient nature of the whole activity; you create your little piece of art knowing full well that it won’t be there for long, so you make the most of the moment rather than focusing on the finished ‘thing’. Does beach craft have that effect on you too?

More nature crafts inspiration

a year of nature craft and play book by catherine hughes and becky goddard-hill

Beach fun is just one of the nature projects in my book, ‘A Year of Nature Craft and Play’ (co-authored with Becky Goddard-Hill).  There’s an activity for every week of the year and it includes fun crafts, gardening, games, art and science experiments – perfect for inspiring kids to get creative with nature and explore the amazing natural world.

Becky has also rounded up lots more lovely ideas for crafting with nature at the beach here.

What’s your favourite beach activity to get the whole family having fun?

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin1
1 Shares

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Beach, Children, craft, naturally crafty, Nature, Outdoors

« Naturally Crafty #11 – a Nature Craft Linky
5. Taking the Big Boost Challenge with Baby Bio »

Comments

  1. Becky says

    September 8, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    Just absolutely love the choclate heart!

    Reply
  2. Me, You and Magoo says

    September 9, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    I love these sand crafts, it’s great when you get absorbed into something like this when you’re on the beach. We went to Putsborough Sands near Woolacombe over the August bank holiday & the sand was gorgeous, you couldn’t help trickle it through your fingers. We attempted to make a large octopus in the sand, but it turned into a sun in the end! Thank you for linking up to #craftingismytherapy

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      September 9, 2016 at 7:28 pm

      Ah we weren’t far from you then, also in North Devon! Love Woolacombe, we’ve had so many great days there.

      Reply
  3. Jennifer says

    September 11, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    How lovely! The beaches near us are all pebbly and I love building little towers and walls with the pebbles. We always come home with buckets of pretty stones and shells! My children love hunting through the seaweed for treasures like crab legs that they can use to decorate their castles with. Thank you for linking up to #craftingismytherapy!

    Reply
  4. RachelSwirl says

    September 12, 2016 at 10:32 pm

    some great ideas, I love natural craft 🙂

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      September 13, 2016 at 4:07 pm

      It’s my favourite craft too, so tactile.

      Reply
  5. relentlesslypurple says

    September 14, 2016 at 5:30 pm

    Such beautiful ideas! My youngest was washing stones and making patterns earlier today & really enjoyed it, think we may have to do the same next time we go to the beach xx #craftingismytherapy

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      September 16, 2016 at 2:12 pm

      Ah there was a fair amount of stone washing on this particular beach trip too, the little ones love it don’t they!

      Reply
  6. AmyLovestoSew says

    September 21, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    A fairytale castle made out of sand, what a joyful thing! You know, now I think about it, the urge to write/sculpt/play with sand and pebbles and shells etc is all grounded in an instinct to be creative – it never really leaves you does it! Can’t wait to be having fun like this with my daughter (10 months at the time of writing). Gorgeous photos #craftingismytherapy

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      September 22, 2016 at 8:20 am

      Oh you’ve got so much crafty fun ahead of you! You’re right, it never leaves you – seeing my kids instinctively get stuck in at the beach always brings it out in me too 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

ORDER MY BOOK

Search

VuelioTop10Badge2020

CandideTop10Badge2019

BRAMBLECREST GARDEN FURNITURE

Connect

Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
Learn More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

digging the garden in wellies
garden party
container gardening with children and dobbies garden centres

AMAZON ASSOCIATE

 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright Growing Family 2022. Design by Stacey Corrin.