The Beach Book

by Jo Schofield, Fiona Danks

You don't need to live right on the water's edge to have fun at the beach! The Beach Book is all about finding wild places at the seaside, as well as by lakes and rivers and making the most of opportunities to explore and enjoy all these places have to offer. You can have Discovering beach wildlife (eg. rock pooling, crabbing and fishing or making a rock-pool viewer) and exploring sand dunes and beach combing. Making the most of lakes and rivers by foraging, damming and diverting streams and boat racing. Using natural resources to play and invent new games (e.g., stone Jenga and skittles, ball runs and boules or funny face games. Being creative (e.g., making driftwood monsters, marram grass dolls and creating sand paintings).

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2015

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun ideas

[Roberta Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Beach Book is really in a class all by itself. It evokes a time before standardized tests and kids having every minute structured for them. It is bursting with amazing suggestions for getting kids outside and playing at the beach, ranging from how to make sand mermaids to conducting beach treasure hunts to old favorites like skimming (skipping) stones on water.

Each activity comes with a description, which is more of a list of suggestions of what to try rather than detailed how-to instructions. This leaves a great deal of room for spontaneity and creativity. Things aren’t too loose, however, because the authors list safety tips with many of the activities. These are common-sense precautions to take, such as knowing which way the tide is going (sometimes tides can come in rapidly and unexpectedly) or when adult supervision is recommended. The best part is that any of the activities can easily be adapted to non-beach or even indoor situations, and are perfect for multi-aged groups.

If there’s a trip to the beach in your family’s future, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book. Read it ahead of time to get imaginations charged up. Have a copy handy in the beach bag to keep the adventures coming. Frankly, I can’t wait to visit a beach and try some of these activities myself!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The summer time means going to the beach for a lot of people, including myself. And while just hanging out can be a fun activity there are so many other options for making the outdoors and especially the beach not only a fun place to be but a learning place to be. The beach book provides a whole bunch of different types of activities that can be planned and executed on a beach. That beach can be located near a river, a stream, a lake or the ocean. There is sure to be something here for most people, especially children. The activities are divided up into the following categories: beach adventures, beach wildlife, beach games, beach art, beach imagination, beach at night, and beach rubbish. Each activity is described and labeled with one of three safety ratings (1-3, one for being okay to do alone, three for activities that should include an adult). I found the book full of really fun sounding activities. I can't wait to visit the beach and try some of these out.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arts, crafts, games, playful activities abound in this little book that offers "loads to do at lakes, rivers and the seaside." Making driftwood monsters, playing jenga with rocks, playing with shadows and light, and many more creative ways to spark imaginations.

A wonderful book that reminds me of "I Love Dirt!"
*would like to own*!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of fascinating & creative ideas on beaches. Want to go immediately to try!