I tried this with my son on our vacation, and it was good for at least half an hour of fun on his own, while we splashed about in the water.

Take a few sheets of paper with outlined drawings on them - a fish, shell, starfish, anything at all.  It doesn’t even have to be beach related, although it helps.  Also, take a glue stick along.

At the beach, fill in the outline with glue,  and turn the paper drawing-side down on dry sand.  Press it gently for a few seconds, remove the paper and shake off excess sand from the sides.  You have  a nice beach artwork that’s also a great reminder of your time by the sea!

To make sure your paper doesn’t fall apart, paste it onto a piece of poster board before you head to the beach,  or use thick card stock paper.

Back home, turn a side table into a reminder of your beach trip with these framed beach art pieces, your family pictures at the beach, and shells collected from your trip.

Enjoy!