Can’t afford a castle on the beach? Make one!
Cocoa Beach is the ideal location to make your very own sandcastle. The fun part about building sandcastles is you can make it a very basic structure or an architect’s dream. Even a 3 year old can do it (and actually he’ll get a kick out of helping you).
Items needed:
- sand
- buckets of varying sizes
- shovel
- tools (use your imagination – anything to sculpt and make cool designs)
- *bottomless circular containers of various sizes (you might want to buy a few cheap plastic buckets and cut out the bottoms)
- spray bottle
* If you don’t want to use bottomless containers, just use buckets.
- Find a spot on the beach away from foot traffic, and that isn’t too close to the ocean so that the tide won’t destroy your masterpiece. A good place is slightly inland from where the dark (used to be wet) sand gets lighter.
- Have an idea of the size of the sandcastle – wide and tall. What will it look like? Is it a castle complete with turrets and a moat or will it be the sand condo of your dreams.
- Just like building a real house, having a strong foundation is essential. The key to a good, strong sandcastle is wet sand. Now that you’ve got your spot where the castle will be, grab your buckets, fill them with ocean water and pour them over the area. Tamp it down with your feet until the sand is wet.
- Now it’s time to make your structures. One fun, basic sandcastle is to take the largest bottomless container and put it in the wet sand where you want your castle to be. Then fill your buckets with sand (make the sand wet by using your spray bottle or getting wet sand closer to the ocean). Pour the sand-filled buckets into the containers, packing the sand. Tightly-packed sand makes the structure strong and you need it especially strong on the bottom of your castle to hold the weight. Now you have your first structure.
- Build on top of the structure with various-sized bottomless containers to create any type of design you want – from big at the bottom to smaller at the top, to different sizes all over. It’s your castle and you don’t have to spend a dime so you can make it as basic or ornate as you’d like. Take the bottomless molds away after you’ve made the structure.
- After you’ve created the basics on your sandcastle, how about a moat? Dig out a circular area around the castle, making sure it isn’t too close to the structure. Stack up wet sand to create outside walls.
- Decorate your sandcastle by hollowing out the moat walls, scooping out little areas here and there for windows and other designs.
Tips:
– Remember to keep sand wet while building.
– Pack sand tightly while building.
– Leave only your sandcastle and footprints on the beach. Remember to pick up any tools and buckets you might have used.
– Have fun at Cocoa Beach!!
