Sand Castles, Shell Guide & More

Beach Must Haves ~ Perdido Key, FL

shellsBuilding with sand is a great way to have fun at the beach. If you’ve never tried it before, here are some tips to get you started.

TOOLS

  1. Shovel
  2. Sand Buckets
  3. Plastic Molds or Containers (storebought molds are nice, but you can also recycle empty deli containers, plastic drink cups or yogurt cups)
  4. Carving Tools (plastic forks, knives and spoons, pencils, straws, sticks, etc.)

PREPARING THE SAND

Get the sand wet. Let’s face it, dry sand just doesn’t stick together! To build a great sand castle or sculpture you need REALLY wet sand.

  • Easy Method – Fill a bucket with water, then add sand to the bucket. Wahla. Wet sand.
  • Harder Method – Near the water’s edge (but not too close!) dig a big hole with your shovel. Once you hit the water table, you’ll have a little pool with LOTS of wet sand at the bottom!

BUILDING CASTLES

Building castles. Now is the fun part! Build your castle using one or more of the methods below. There really is no right or wrong way. So experiment and have fun!

  • Dribble – Pick up really really Really REALLY wet handfuls of sand and let it run off your hands or fingers into little piles. The more you dribble, the more the sand builds up. This method produces blobby, fanciful castles with lots of towers.
  • Hand Form – Use your hands to pile up the wet sand into desired shapes including towers and walls. This works great for smaller castles.
  • Mold Form – Use your bucket or molds to create towers and walls. Sometimes with molds, it’s hard to get the sand out without it crumbling. Experiment with sands of different wetness to see what works best.
  • Bricks and Patties – Use your hands or a mold to make lots of rectangular bricks or round patties. Then stack the bricks to make walls, and the patties to make round towers. Use additional really wet sand as glue to hold it all together and keep it strong. This works great for making really large castles.
  • Use walls to connect towers together. Then use your carving tools on the walls to make staircases and arches.
  • Use small carving tools (your fingers, plastic eating utensils, pencils, straws, or whatever else you can find) to carve out windows, doors, stair steps, bricks, scalloped roof tiles, arches, your name or initials, and to smooth the sand.
  • Use found shells and sea grasses to decorate your sand castle. But never use sea oats! These plants are protected by law!
  • Don’t build your castle too close to the water’s edge — or it may get wiped out by a rising tide.

BUILDING SCULPTURES
Castles are just the beginning. You can use sand to sculpt lots of things!  Use your shovel, hands or molds to build up and pile your WET sand into the basic shape for your sculpture. Then use your carving tools to scratch out the finer details. Sculptures more flat than tall are easier for beginners.  Need some ideas on what to sculpt?  Here are some all-time classics:

  • octopus
  • sun
  • fish, shark or whale
  • giant shell
  • alligator
  • dolphin
  • sea turtle
  • dinosaur
  • mermaid
  • your name or initials

Finally, make sure you clean up your tools and trash before you leave the beach!

sand-dollarSHELL GUIDE

There are lots of beautiful shells on the beaches of northwest, Florida. A good place to find shells is at the “trash line.” This is the high-tide line where seaweed and shells collect.

SHELLING RESTRICTIONS

  1. The state of Florida has different laws about what kind of shells, and how many shells you can take. When visiting parks or beaches, always check information or visitors centers before going shelling.
  2. Most areas restrict taking “live shells” to two of each kind per day. Live shells have creatures inside or are actually live creatures, like starfish, sand dollars, urchins and snails. It’s really a lot more fun (and a LOT less smelly) to only take empty, non-living shells.
  3. It’s also a good idea to take only a few special shells from the beach. The shells will mean more to you, and there will be more shells for everyone!

HOW TO CLEAN SHELLS

  1. Clean dirty shells with an old toothbrush and water.
  2. A little bit of baby oil can help make shells shiny.
  3. For sand dollars, a little bit of bleach mixed with water can help clean the shells.

Get a grown-up to help mix the water and bleach (no more than a 50/50 mix or you’ll disolve the shells!) and soak the sand dollars for a few hours. Then dry the shells in the sun for a few days. Sand dollars will harden with time!

I FOUND SOME SHELLS, NOW WHAT?

  1. Visit the beach craft page for some crafts using shells.
  2. Make a display box for your shells from an egg carton, or a shoebox or a shoebox lid. Label each shell with its name and where you found it.
  3. Go to a museum or nature center that has a shell collection and see the wide variety of shells and how they display them.
  4. Visit your library and borrow a shell book. Pick one shell that you found and try to find the same kind in the book. What is the shell’s name? How big does it get? Did an animal live in or make the shell?