How do you Build Stunning Sandcastles?
There is miles and miles of sandy beaches for you to enjoy when you vacation at the Jersey Shore. Spread out a beach blanket, drink ice cold beverages from a cooler and soak up the sun and surf. Building sandcastles is a great way to pass the time and it’s fun for adults and children alike. Best of all, you don’t need a bunch of fancy tools to build stunning sandcastles because with a few things from home and a couple of buckets and shovels you can create a masterpiece.
Before you leave for the beach search your house for sandcastle tools. Anything you can pack sand in and create a mold is a good tool. For instance, buckets, empty food containers, storage containers, milk cartons and bowls work great. You might also want to grab some digging tools; disposable spoons and shovels are good. Finally, make sure you have things to carve detail in your sandcastles; straws, disposable butter knives and sticks are best.
Sandcastles begin with a simple hole, so to start you will need to grab your shovels and dig one. Don’t stop digging until you start to see wet sand. If you forgot shovels you can use your hands to dig a hole. Beach sand isn’t heavy so this step shouldn’t take to long. Once you hit wet sand start scooping it aside in it’s own pile. Make a large pile of wet sand that is tall and wide. Roughly in the shape a loose pyramid or triangle. To make your sandcastle you will take sand from this pile.
Decide a design plan for your sandcastle. You don’t need to do this on paper, you can draw it in sand with a stick, or you can just envision it in your head. You just need a basic idea of where the towers will be. Once you decide where the towers will be use your hands to create a rough shape of them in the pile of sand. If you are having difficulty use a cup, or a bucket that has no bottom to form the shape. You don’t need to add any details yet, just loosely shape the mounds for them. Then, remove the sand around each mound of dirt so each tower stands alone. Make sure you have enough space to work on your sandcastle.
Making your sandcastle look detailed isn’t hard. Take a flat stick, or a straw and use that as a tool to carve out windows and other details. If an area of the sandcastle starts to look dry, or crumbles use water to remoisten and pack the sand. Use a shovel to create a moat around your sandcastle . Bring water up from the ocean and pour it in your moat. It will dissolve quickly, but it’s a nice effect for kids if you have them.
Sandcastles can also be built from packed sand. To do this you need to find an area of the beach that has wet sand. This will most likely be close to the water line, but don’t build your sandcastle there because it won’t last long with the waves so close by. It is best to find an area where the sand is dry and transport the wet sand to this area.
To start building your sandcastle take empty buckets and/or disposable cups and fill them with wet sand. Pack them firm and smooth out the top of the sand with a shovel, or your hand. Bring the sand back to your building site. Level an area of sand by smoothing it out with your hand, or a shovel.
Build the towers of your castle by turning the buckets filled with sand over. Do this carefully or the sand will crumble. Put the largest buckets in the middle and smaller containers of sand toward the outer edge. These will be the towers for your castle. As explained previously, you can create the details and extras like a moat with a flat stick and shovels.
Sandcastles don’t last long because of the changing tides, so when you leave the beach for the day it’s unlikely the sandcastle you created will be there the next day, so don’t forget to take a few snapshots for posterity. If you have kids have them pose with the sandcastle. Memories like this can last a lifetime, so it’s important to capture them for reminiscing later.