10 things to do in the winter sun on the beach

1. Draw a giant snakes and ladders games in the sand and play with pebble markers. Make a dice substitute by drawing six rings in the sand (with number 6 in the smallest, centre ring, and number 1 in the largest, outside ring). Choose an object to throw at the rings to score (could be a shell, pebble, feather, lollipop stick…) and draw a line to throw from – to make it fair for all players (maybe further away for older players).
2. Enjoy some time to release the creative side and draw in the sand.
   



3. Find a pile of sticks and pretend to make a camp-fire and imagine all the things you could cook on it and sing some songs (plan to return one evening with a fire-permit and food to toast up something real!).
   



4. Kick a ball around (the closer to the water it goes the more risky it gets… unless you’re wearing a winter wetsuit!).
   



5. Make sand-castles with a toddler (only to have them destroyed in seconds and then repeat, over and over again).



6. Play ball tag (this can be fairly brutal – depending on what ball is being used!) – rules are tag someone by throwing a ball at them – but throw it from a fair distance away, so no one gets hurt – and don’t aim for the head! My children were taught this game at school! I arrived early one afternoon for pick up to see the teacher chucking the ball at his class!

   

7. Make sand stairs up to a pier – gives Daddy a great digging work-out on a Sunday afternoon 🙂

   

8. Hold running races.
9. Play tug of war with giant seaweed.
10. Dare to be brave and jump the waves on the shoreline.

Just a few snippets of our family fun that we enjoyed last Sunday at wonderful Lyall Bay in Wellington! Here’s to many more winter sunshine days… rolling into spring!