Although this indoor sandbox wasn’t quite as big a hit as recent ones, a make-believe beach still provided fun morning entertainment before we could head off to the real thing!

For set up, I filled a large storage bin with sand. (Note: The stray pieces of black bean were leftover from a dinosaur dig, but the kids decided that now they were “seashells”).

Then add whatever beach-y elements you have on hand. I used blue felt for water with a few plastic sea creatures swimming on top; fabric scraps for beach towels, topped with a few Duplo figures; and a few real sea shells. If you have tiny drink umbrellas, they would be perfect as beach umbrellas!

Veronika’s favorite part about this sandbox were the people figures. She liked walking them through the sand or lying them down to be “cozy” on their beach blankets.

Big brother Travis liked burying them in the sand!

The kids begged for me to add real water. In retrospect I wish I hadn’t since it made clean-up harder (wet sand is more of a pain than dry sand), but I indulged them. I made a moat along one side of the bin lined with the blue felt and poured in water.

Now the people and sea creatures could go for a swim! It was fun to see the kids smiles when they made their toys splash about.