TAMPA WITH KIDS by PJ Goetz

The basic of Sandcastle building

By P.J. Goetz

For the last two months my boys and I have read almost everything written on the art of Sandcastle building.  We have watched videos, checked out books from the library, order kits on line and spent many hours digging in the sand at the beach.   It has been great fun.  We hope you find what we discovered helpful.  Please send us pictures of your sandcastles (pj@tampawithkids.com) so we can post them on tampawithkids.com.  Happy building- See you at the beach!

Step 1:  Build a really big pile of sand.  (A good rule of thumb is when you think it is big enough; double it.) 

Use Real Shovels!  The plastic ones break and don’t effectively move the amount of sand that you need to move in order to build a sand castle. 

Step 3:  Add your tower(s).  For this example we only added one but you can add as many as you like.    Take a bucket with a cut off the bottom. (We got a kit on line from www.canyoudigit.com  -The cut off bottom allows air to escape so you don’t end up with a vacuum and all the sand gets stuck in the bucket and won’t come out when you turn it upside down. We like the kit but you can make your own.)  Into the bottomless bucket fill about ¼ full of sand and then add lots of water- stirring the water with your hands to make sure all the sand in the bottomless bucket is wet.  Add another layer of about the same amount mixing in water.  Repeat until your bottomless bucket is full wet sand.   Don’t worry about adding too much water- you can’t.   As you are mixing water into the layers of sand remove any shells or seaweed.  After the bottomless bucket is full of wet sand make a cone on top.   Shape the cone with your hands.  It should look like and upside down sugar ice cream cone.  

Step 4:  Make it your own.  Now comes the fun part. The sand and water mixture you used to create your base is strong enough for carving. This is when all your hard work up to this point pays off.    Use the upside down cone part as the roof.  Into the walls carve windows and doors.  You can use plastic spoons and plastic knifes.  Use the handles and the eating part. Use straws to blow sand out of openings and windows.  Use any sand toys the kids brought to the beach.  The only way to make a great sand castle is to make some really average sand castles so don’t worry and have fun.  Keep a bucket handy with a mixture of sand and water to repair any “oops”.  Carve little bits at a time.  It is much easy to make the window larger than to repair a window that got out of control.  Take your time.  Use plastic rakes to form balconies and stairs.  And always work from the top down.  Every book I’ve read on sand castle building has said this.