Beach Games
Keep Your Bottle
This game is particularly good at family parties or with mixed
age groups, and is definitely a warm weather, outdoor game!
A great game for a large beach party.
Age: any
You will need:
2 plastic bottles
Small plastic cups
Divide the players into two teams. Choose a good sport
(perhaps a parent) to sit, cross-legged, with an empty plastic
bottle on their head.
Line up the rest of the team and give the first in line
a small plastic cup. Fill up a few large buckets with warmish
water and place them between the team members and the good
sport.
At the signal, the first team member runs to fill up their
cup and then pour it, quickly but carefully, into the plastic
bottle. Either continue until one bottle is filled up, or
call time and see who has collected the most water.
Give the good sports a towel, and the winning team a prize!
The Splash Game
Not for the faint-hearted, this game is best played out
of doors when clothes don't really matter! It works with
mixed family age-groups if everyone who takes part is a
good sport, and will cause much hilarity.
Age: 6+
You will need:
Small cards with numbers written on them, from 1 to x, x
being the total number of players. For 10 players, you need
the numbers 1-10; for 14 players, the numbers 1 to 14, and
so on. Put the cards in a hat or bag.
A small container for water. Choose an appropriate size
for the age of your players, the location, the weather etc.
A small plastic tumbler usually works well.
A large container of warm water, such as a bucket or baby
bath.
How to play:
Choose one player to start. He picks a number out of the
bag without letting anyone else (but you) see it, and remembers
that number. He then fills up the small container with warm
water and stands in the centre of the other players, who
form a circle around him, but not too close. You will have
to establish the correct distance!
The player in the centre faces each player in turn. Each
player chooses - and says loudly - a number between 1 and
x. Each player must choose a different number. As soon as
somebody chooses 3, the child in the centre throws the container
of water at them! No matter how often this is done, it still
comes as a bit of a shock and children love it.
If you get all around the circle and all the players have
chosen a number but NOT the correct one, the child in the
centre has to throw the water over himself!
Ping Pong Ball Race
Dig a series of sloping channels wide enough (and smooth
enough) to take a ping pong ball. Make them equal length,
or have slightly longer channels for older children and
adults. Place a ping pong ball at one end and then race
each other blowing the ball down the channel to the finish
line.
Beach Mini Golf
Make your own mini golf course in the sand. Players take
turns with a plastic golf club and ball - or whatever you
have to hand that you can improvise with.
Frisbee
Get the Frisbee out and challenge the family to a game.
- Set up some targets in the sand and see who can
throw the Frisbee nearest to them.
- Set up some "bottles" (plastic, please!)
in the sand, and see who can knock them over.
- Play Frisbee golf. Make your own devious course in
the sand and take it in turns to complete a "hole",
which might be a circle marked out in the sand. Perhaps
you will have to go around the picnic basket to get there?
- Just throwing a Frisbee back and forth between players
can be enough to keep children entertained for a good long
while
Beach Volleyball
Some beaches have a proper volleyball court but it is
often monopolised by older children and young adults. If
there is space on the beach you can always set up your own
version, improvising with windbreaks, picnic baskets or
a portable badminton net. Make up your own rules, too, or
learn how to play properly here.
Things You’ll Need:
Volleyballs
Nets
Steps:
- Bring an all-weather, outdoor volleyball and a net
system of regulation size to the beach.
-
Gather a minimum of four players (two per side).
-
Set up your court away from sunbathers, in an area
where the ball will not continually roll into the water.
-
Play games to 15 points, earning a point only when
you win a rally where you serve.
-
Serve only once per turn and within the court lines
(draw a line in the sand to mark these), or forfeit the
ball to your opponents.
-
Hit the ball a maximum of three times before it
must go over the net to your opponents.
-
Bump the ball to a setter, who sets the ball for
the spiker, who spikes the ball over the net (see "How
to Bump Volleyball,' "How to Set Volleyball’
and "How to Spike Volleyball'. Do this without grabbing
the ball or allowing it to rest in your hands. The same
person cannot contact the ball twice in a row unless the
first touch is off a block at the net.
-
Avoid touching the net at all times or lose the
ball, and possibly a point.
-
Rotate player positions clockwise whenever your
team has won a change in possession (called a 'side out,'
it's when it's your turn to serve).
-
Play a set of three or five games. The team that
wins the most games in the set is the winner.
Tips & Warnings
- The less advanced the participants, the more players
you'll need to cover the ground and have long rallies.
It's tough to get around on sand.
- Drink lots of water and wear plenty of sunscreen.
- Try not to kick up too much sand if it's windy and
there are people lying on the beach nearby.
- The most important rule to enforce is keeping players
away from the net - opposing players who land on, or crash
into, each other at the net can cause serious injuries.
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