Sandcastle Summer

I have spent my entire life near the Jersey Shore.  And I know as I write this people will have images of the reality television show of the same name that aired from 2009-2012 about eight housemates living in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.  I assure you that this post is not about that Jersey Shore. Rather it is about my favorite pastime as a child building sand castles and creatures on the beach.  I would build sandcastles in my home state of New Jersey, but would also build them on our family vacations in California, Massachusetts, and Florida.  The sand quality of each state was very different, ranging from sugar white to pebble-dense smoky gray. It didn’t matter the quality or color of the sand, I just loved to imagine and build.  I was intrigued by the fact that as I dug I’d create great pools of water.  Indeed, moats surrounded all my castle creations.  I also loved collecting shells and stones to decorate my constructions

This summer, as my husband and I walked the various beaches of the East Coast, I realized that I hadn’t made a sandcastle in a very long time.  When did I stop?  And why?  I certainly didn’t stop imagining, or maybe I did.  As I walked one Maine beach earlier this summer, I watched children playing in the sand.  They didn’t seem to stop to plan.  They just organically started to build, mounding piles of sand on top of each other.

You could see the pleasure in their gestures and on their faces.  There is something therapeutic about working with sand.  It is pliable and forgiving.  You can erase your designs easily and start again.  You can add and add and add without stopping.  Your structure can get bigger and more elaborate.  You can revise as you go, and no one would be the wiser.  Building sandcastles is play in its purest form. 

My most vivid memory of building sandcastles was when my family would go on vacations to Avon, New Jersey with family friends, Mel and Gloria Hintz and their two children Roxanne and Eric.  Mel was very artistic.  He knew so much about art history, and I loved to listen to his stories.  His daughter, Roxanne, was a year younger than me and also was incredibly artistic.  She’d make intricate drawings of Russian cathedrals with mesmerizing golden domes.  This meant our sandcastles were amazingly detailed, complete with round and rectangular towers with turrets, a drawbridge, a barbican and a portcullis.  Mel taught me how to mix sand and water making different textures.  When adding more liquid to the sand, you could create a funnel cake consistency, which would make wonderfully intricate patterns.  As the sandcastle became complete, Mel would send Roxane and me off down to the ocean’s edge to find shells to decorate our structures.  He’d find the driest, whitest sand and sprinkle it over the whole creation making it glisten in the summer sun.  To my eight-year-old eyes, it was truly magic.

So as the summer ends, and I head to the beach for the last time, I plan to add some sand sculpting to my activities.  I want my mind to shut off and just feel the salt breeze, hear the crashing waves, look out at the seagulls wheeling through the wide expanse of blue sky. I want to regain the childlike feeling of creating with abandon with no purpose except the joy of fingers through sand.

Sandcastle Books for Children

A Day for Sandcastles by Jonarno Lawson and Qin Leng

Building Sandcastles by Dona Herweck Rice

Fancy Nancy: Sand Castles and Sand Palaces by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser

Sandcastle by Elinat Tsarfati

The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchencko

The Sandcastle That Lola Built by Megan Maynor and Kate Berube

Turkey’s Santastic Beach Day by Wendi Silvano and Lee Harper

Inspiring Sandcastle Contests Throughout the USA

Birch Bay, Washington Sand Sculpture Competition

Build a Giant Sandcastle, Jersey Shore Competition

California Beaches Sandcastle Contests

Cannon Beach, Oregon Sand Castle Contest

Folly Beach, South Carolina Sea and Sand Festival

Ocean Park, Maine Sandcastle Competition

Revere Beach, Massachusetts Sand Sculpting Festival

Sea Colony, Delaware Sandcastle Contest

Siesta Key, Florida Crystal Classic

Texas Sand Fest

Unlock your creativity at the Belmar, New Jersey Sandcastle Contest