Holiday games with children on the beach and in the water

Games on the beach

Penguin relay in the sand

A Team game for the snorkeling break: The first players put on flippers, a T-shirt, a diving mask and a sun hat, waddle to the goal and hand their penguin outfit to the next waddle sprinters. These waddle back to the start and so on. Who is the fastest?

Obstacle course on the beach

First a course is set, which must be completed with a ball between the knees, hopping backwards, with flippers on the feet or in other funny ways. Anything that belongs to the brought beach equipment is simply incorporated here. The course can lead over, under and in a slalom around deck chairs and other obstacles. In between you have to jump over sand buckets, throw rings, balance balls, climb over air mattresses and much more. At a 'checkpoint' all arrivals write their name with their left hand (left-handers of course with their right) and then waddle to the finish in a duck walk. Who gets there the fastest (or funniest)?

Beach boccia with children

All participants receive 2 small stones or shells and stand behind the starting line. From there a clearly visible target stone is thrown at some distance. Alternately everyone now tries to throw their stone as close as possible to the target stone. Whoever succeeds may open the next round. The target stone is thrown again by that child and the next throws begin. Of course it is also allowed to knock opponents' stones out of the way . That makes it even more exciting! The winner is the one who, after a previously agreed number of rounds, has the most hits near the target stone.

The big digging in the sand

Sand in sight? Then it's the biggest (and also cooling) fun, bury each other in it – until only the head sticks out. Whoever wants can make a competition out of it. That causes giggles and laughter! Parents especially love this game when they are the object of desire. That way they can laze about to their heart's content, while the kids can let out all their energy and in the evening fall into bed like a stone …

Who joins the treasure hunt in the sand?

Shovel at the ready, off to the exciting treasure hunt in the sand!Especially on the beach the haul of shells and stones is particularly large. Unfortunately not all beach treasures can be taken home, but there's always room in the travel bag for the prettiest ones. It's best to collect everything that looks interesting first

, in a small bucket and sort them out again before departure.If parents don't want to leave to chance what the children find in the sand, they can of course also'hide small treasures like sand molds, empty yogurt cups or larger sticks', which the treasure hunters are then allowed to dig up. And so that the whole beach or sandbox doesn't get dug up, the treasure hiders should set a limited search area. Even so the diggers have a lot to dig

and will be sure to start sweating quickly. But when all treasures have been found, the joy is great.

Who draws the nicest pictures in the sand?In the smooth, damp sand children can use the handle of a shovel and rake or create great pictures with their fingers: heart, sun, house, snail, funny faces ... or how about, writing your own name in the sand? There are no limits to imagination. Afterwards the pictures can be decorated with natural materials like stones, shells, twigs or leaves. The sand museum can then be opened and the parents can at a small opening admire all thesand artworks of their children

Who wants to come to the sandy Sun Bistro?

Here there is delicious sand ice cream with flower decoration, fine sand cakes and delicious sand pizza ... with the creative sand toys from the HABA Sun Bistro series children can easily open a sand ice cream shop or a sand café with savory and sweet treats. Whether on the beach, at the playground or in the sandbox – the restaurant role-play is always fun and gives children room for creative ideas. Because of course all delicacies are nicely arranged before serving and decorated with shells, stones, flowers or leavesThen not only do the sandy treats change hands, but the play money in the form of pebbles or shells changes owners. Enjoy your meal!

Ring toss in the sand

Here you need several swim rings and live 'pins' . The latter are adults or children who stretch out both arms and one leg. From a finish line all throwers try to throw the rings over an arm or a leg. The number of throwing attempts is agreed beforehand. Turns are changed as often as necessary until everyone has had a throw. Whoever has the most hits at the end is the super ring tosser.

Wild secret agent chase on the beach

One player is the secret agent.A cloth is tucked into the bathing trunks, sticking out like a flag. On land and in water the agent flees from the pursuers. It's best to agree beforehand how big the 'catch area' may be. Do the pursuers manage to tear the cloth from the swimming trunks? Then the child is the secret agent from now on

How about a beach story?

When the midday sun is blazing or everyone needs a break, young and old crawl under the sun umbrella and read a story to each other – or even better: invent one. Of course tales of fearless pirates and terrible sea monsters are always popular at the beach and by the lake…

Beach memory game

At least ten items are laid out, e.g. a shell, sunglasses, a sand shovel, sunscreen, etc. The players look briefly and memorize everything. Then a towel is spread over it and only one item is removed.

Who guesses first what's missing?

Relaxed beach game: cloud watchingHere everyone can lie back relaxed on the beach or on the grass and watch which great cloud shapes move across the sky

, dissolve and form again. In the process, parents usually learn something from their children too!

Build a sandmanIn winter there are snowmen, in summer sandmen! When the sand is nice and damp you can form two or three balls. For eyes, nose and mouth simply use pebbles or shells

.

And with a bit of luck the sandman even gets hair from seaweed or a beard from dune grass. The sand bucket becomes the hat.At the beach game 'fill the bucket'Each child gets a bucket of the same size – or the children a smaller one, the parents a larger one. All buckets are placed some distance from the sea.

At 'Go!' everyone tries to fill their buckets with water as quickly as possible. The buckets stay in place. The

water may only be transported to the buckets with hands, a shovel or another aid

Whoever's bucket is full first has won.

At least Water games with childrenWater game: seahorse ridersMom & Dad and maybe other 'grown-ups' each have a child on their shoulders. The 'riders' try to push each other into the water. Who can stay on their 'seahorse' the longest?Dangerous poisonous jellyfish in the water

Five players hold hands in the water

A and form a circle. In the middle there is a very poisonous jellyfish in the form of a harmless-looking water ball.Everyone now tries to get each other to touch the ball by pulling back and forth. Whoever touches the poisonous jellyfish is out. Who remains at the end?

A child's game – please don't touch!

The water ball must be brought from a starting line to the finish.It's that simple. But without touching it! Anything else is allowed: pushing with waves, blowing it forward, etc. If you like, you can also play against each other. Then theball must be brought to the goal past the opponents.

But of course the opponent may not touch the ball either. Whoever does has unfortunately lost.

Sooooo a pull in the water!The more take part, the more fun it is. All run one after the other in a circle through about waist-high water.One person gives the command. After a while everyone turns around at the same time and tries to

to go in the other direction

.Surprisingly difficult... The leg muscles also get a workout from this game!Creative water game: ferryA bit like an egg-and-spoon race – only not with eggs and not simply running. Swimming or wading you must reach the goal while balancing something on your head. With a shell it's easy. It gets harder with a water ball ... gespielt werden. Es können auch Zweierteams gegeneinander antreten. Ein Kind liegt auf der Luftmatratze. Das andere muss den:die Mitspieler:in so schnell wie möglich ins Ziel bringen, schieben, ziehen, was auch immer....

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