When we’re packing up the car for a day at the beach as a family, there is always room to throw in a few essential beach toys to keep us all entertained. As newbie beach goers, we used to wait till we got to the beach town for our visit and then stock up on overpriced, utterly flimsy, plastic junk at the local beach shops. After just a couple visits, we soon figured out we were better off finding better priced and better made items online at home and making room in the car for them. We simply store them in the garage and use them again and again for each beach trip.
The Top 3 Essential Beach Toys
You truly don’t need a lot of beach toys to keep the kids happy. Keep in mind the classics that keep the focus on the beach itself: If I had to pick just 3, those would be the beach toys I would pack in the car no matter how old my kids are. They can be repurposed for both play and practical activities:
Building sand castlesDigging and collecting shellsScooping water from the ocean for easy rinsing of our other gear or feetDigging holes for our beach umbrellaAnd so much more.
Toys for All Ages
My list of beach toys starts with the top 3 essentials and then progresses by age level. As our kids have grown up at the beach, we’ve upgraded our gear from simple pails to more interactive toys that are super fun for the teens and adults in the group to play together, too. Even if you’re heading to the beach with a group of all adults, don’t underestimate how much more fun you might have with tucking a cornhole set or bocce ball set in your beach wagon! While you’re making your packing list, don’t miss my list of the best beach gear for a family trip, too. The wide open, shallow flat surface is perfect for skimming water in a tide pool and catching the tiny fish swimming there for a closer look before releasing them again. It also works great in the shallow edge of the ocean where the waves push up shells and small crabs in the wet sand. My girls could sit for ages with just this one beach toy and be utterly entertained. My husband will use these to dig the sand for our umbrella pole, too. Many plastic shovels that come with a pail set are flimsy and small and take forever to dig a decent hole. These long handled scoopers are far more effective and sturdy. Tuck a long handled plastic shovel inside and your kids will be ready to play for hours. Perfectly designed for smaller hands, the shovel and rake are sturdy and the measuring cup scoopers are perfect for busy sand play for little ones. I’ve always loved the turtle sifter on top and the blue bucket is one we still have in our toy pile long after my kids outgrew the other elements of the set. If you’ve got kids under 8, this is an excellent beach toy starter set. They’d be a great beach toy for the whole family, get them wet with ocean water and toss them on the beach back and forth. You’ll get a little splash of water every time you catch one, which is super refreshing on a hot beach day. With a simple boogie board in our list of beach supplies, my kids can be busy for HOURS in the ocean waves. They started using these lightweight boogie boards when they were about 5 or 6 in the more shallow parts of the water. Their tiny kid bodies fit perfectly on the boards and they had so much fun riding the waves towards the shore. Now that my kids are older, they still love their boogie boards but have to go out a bit farther into the water. Don’t wait too long before introducing this fun beach toy to your kids! If you’re heading to the Outer Banks, you’ll find lots of beach shops selling kites nearby. But for beaches anywhere else along the coast, you may want to bring your own and be prepared. This volleyball can be played with traditional bump style or for younger kids is a great size for just throwing back and forth. BONUS: It would take a much bigger gust of wind to lose this ball than a flimsy plastic one. The grippy paddles stick to the balls and make it a fun way to play catch at the beach with younger kids. I’m pretty sure competitive adults would be more than happy to get in on the action! Fun for both kids and adults but you may want to hunt down some extra balls to bring, just in case! This is such a fun, laid back game to play with both kids and adults. I love that this set comes with such an easy to pack carrying tote. This packable cornhole set is just perfect for playing at the beach. It is waterproof and sturdy and comes with a convenient storage tote for easy packing.
