Category: Beaches
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10 ways to play on the beach in spring
Spring is a great time to visit a beach. It’s too cold to faff about with swimsuits and towels so you can focus on all the other ways there are to have fun. Wellies are a MUST, as tall as possible. Here are our top 10 activities…
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What do you do the day after you finish a 365 day nature play challenge?
What we did on 1 January 2026. Not officially a challenge. More an epilogue. It’s a very strange day. It’s the 1 January 2026 and for the first time in 365 days we do not need to do a nature play challenge. It’s hard to stop though so we do one anyway. We debate where…
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Days out with the kids: Discovering rocks, stones and fossils
A strand devoted to rocks and all things related. The first encounter – a massive three ton block of coal on the Cardiff Bay Barrage. The second – the simple joys of throwing stones into the sea. We examine stones, listen for splashes and build pictures with them in the sand. Finally, on the penultimate…
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Wild swimming with ‘not so keen’ ten year olds
I love swimming in the sea. B is not so keen. Except when she is and she has a ‘going crazy in the sea’ day… there’s not much swimming involved. Lots of splashing… and some novel solutions. Then we find the best natural swimming pool ever – and everything is wonderful. Finally we have an…
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Wayfinding for kids
How easily can B find her way from one place to another? We play with written instructions and general navigation and struggle finding things in random trees. Wayfinding by bike proves challenging. Then, at the end of the summer holiday, it all pays off when B finds us the BEST new walk ever.
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Sunrise & sunset on the beach with kids
Two extremes. Sunrise and our first big energy outing, in January, getting up early to make a fire and watch the sunrise on the beach. It doesn’t go perfectly but it’s beautiful and we learn a lot! Then, on the eve of the summer solstice, we head to Barry Island to watch the sun go…
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Rockpools, tides, shells and crabs and how to enjoy them with kids
The joys of rockpools, tides, shells and wildlife on beaches that are not sandy ones. On a visit to Sully Island we play with the tide (safely) and find a crab in a rockpool.
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Beach combing in winter with kids
A new activity for the challenge. Beach combing! We find a lot of broken trees and develop a side interest in fossils. Returning in March we get obsessed with driftwood and make Makka Pakka towers.
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Playing on the beach with kids in Spring.
Finding lots of different things to do on the beach in colder weather. We play with driftwood; make dams across little streams; draw in the sand; stamp on lugworm coils; follow tracks and finally, make sandcastles.
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Playing in the sand dunes (326)
Exploring sand dunes in February. We take a sledge and find lots of little paths to explore and the joys of exceptionally sharp thorn bushes.