Make staying inside a ton of fun by having a Beach Staycation in your living room! It’s so easy to set it up and these couple activities will have your kiddos telling you it was the best day ever!
You probably have these things around your house and can pull together a fun Beach Staycation in no time! Its’ a win-win!
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This is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Can you guys believe it? We all were looking forward to Spring Break and we got a “break” like we will never forget.
I feel absolutely terrible for all the families who have been looking forward to Spring Break beach vacations as a family. It’s heartbreaking to hear of the kiddos who had their little hearts crushed.
So, for those of you who are spending your Spring Break at home practicing social distance, and those of you who are looking to break up the monotony during these long weeks ahead, I have an easy solution for you!
Have a Beach Staycation right at home!
I’m not the color-coded schedule mom. I love them. I look at them. I get inspiration from them. However, we don’t really work like that.
I’m a do what you can and follow the kids’ lead so we all don’t go mad (at the same time) kind of mom. I like having a loose plan with a couple ideas here and there.
Also Read: Stress-free Disney Vacation: How to do less and enjoy more
This Beach Staycation is perfect for the color-coded schedule moms, the loose plan moms, and the whatever it takes to keep the kids busy moms.
It’s a hit!
We just had a Beach Staycation in our living room today, and it was a blast. When the kids tell you out of the blue what a great day they had. It melts your heart and boosts your Mom Confidence a little.
It also takes so little to make this happen!
The kids knew we were planning a beach staycation day, so they were looking forward to it from the moment they woke up. The anticipation even had them willing to complete some worksheets morning activities.
Dress for the Beach
The kiddos decided on their own to dress for our Beach Staycation. I knew Little Lady would be up for it – she changes outfits and costumes a few times a day – but I was thrilled to see even my son get in the spirit!
In the short time it took me to dress, the kids were both waiting in full swim gear and Joybees beach shoes!
We live in Minnesota, so it will be a while before we can go sock-free or don our sandals. It even snowed a bit yesterday! So, this is the perfect excuse to break out those summer sandals and really get in the spirit!
Joybees Footwear
If you’re itching for some new beach footwear for the whole family, Joybees are great! They have a lot of different styles and sizes.
My son will wear tennis shoes all summer long, but he loves that these cover like sneakers but waterproof and breathable for summer. Little Lady loves her pink ones too.
The women’s styles are my favorite! I’m drooling over this animal print casual flip and this pretty floral everyday sandal. My step-daughter and I may be a size apart (she’s the larger one!) but neither of us can decide between the white flip and the purple dance sandal.
Easy clean, water-proof, odor-resistant, and lightweight. Once we’re done having our beach staycation, these shoes will be our go-to this summer for boating and all our activities!
Beach Staycation Set-up and Activities
Beach Towels
While the kids were in their rooms dressing for the beach, I gathered all of our beach towels and spread them across the floor.
I literally think you cold scatter beach towels across your living room floor and the kids would love it. Seriously, just that part had the kids loving life!
If you want to keep it low-key, the towels really are enough to make the day special.
If you want to go even further, gather whatever beach-y things you have around the house. We have a beach ball, cooler, some pinwheels, and some colorful place mats that I scattered around the living room.
Beach Movies
This is where the moms who are just trying to get by and fill the days, are going to love this. A living room full of beach towels is the perfect spot to watch beach movies!
We watched Teen Beach Movie in the morning and Teen Beach Movie 2 in the afternoon. That is my recommendation for sure. Such a fun movie!
Fun Beach Movies
- Teen Beach Movie / Teen Beach Movie 2
- Lilo and Stitch
- Moana
- Swiss Family Robinson
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Beach Drinks and Food
We kept this so simple, but you could go all out here. For our kiddos, juice is something we don’t have very often. So, one bottle of V8 Splash went a long way.
Just glasses of juice with silly straws and an umbrella, made it feel special. We also used the same juice to make our own popcicles in the morning and ate them after our bike ride in the afternoon.
We also just had a beach cooler and our typical beach lunch. Sandwiches, chips, and apple slices were our meal for the day.
Beach food and drink ideas
- Drinks with fun straws and umbrellas
- Wrapped Sandwiches
- Popcicles (homemade makes it more fun)
- Slushies
- Hot Dogs (try Slinky Dogs or Octopus hot dogs)
- Grilled burgers or chicken
- Potato salad
- Pasta salad
Beach Activity (if you’re so inclined…)
Take this as far as you want to. As I mentioned, I want all moms to know that just making the effort to set up a fun Beach Staycation is enough. You don’t need to do much more than just make it a fun movie day.
However, if you want to make a full day of it, you definitely can. We did just three things, if you don’t include making popcicles. We played a fishing game, made sandpaper art, and did a sight word and math equation scavenger hunt.
Fishing Game
If you have one of these around home, this is very easy to pull out. I remember playing these fishing games when I was little. Our version is a Sponge Bob clam catching game. Don’t ask me why, we are not Sponge Bob fans around here…
It’s fun to have an easy game to pull out. I can say, in full transparency, we played nearly one full game before the kids started bickering. We tried one more game before all heck broke loose.
So, y’know, you win some you lose some. 🙂
Also Read: Games for kids
Sandpaper Art
If you have some sheets of sandpaper, this is a very easy Beach Staycation activity.
Just place a piece of paper over the top of the sandpaper. Give the kids some crayons to color a beach scene or sandcastle. Drawing on top of the sandpaper will give the picture a sandy texture.
Scavenger Hunt
It’s so easy to create a scavenger hunt. You can keep it beach-themed with shells, shark teeth, or beach items. Or, you can go the academic route and do math equations and sight words like we did.
I have a 3rd grader working on multiplication, so I grabbed our homemade flashcards and hid a dozen around our Beach Staycation setup. For our 1st grader, I created some quick sight word flashcards with beach-related words and hid those.
When the kiddos came in from playing outside, they searched the room and found their flashcards. It would also be fun to place some trinkets like seashells, shark teeth, or sea glass (these glass rocks) around with them.
Also Read: Rainy Day Activities for Kids
Reading on the beach
Sometimes it can be hard to convince the kiddos to take a little time out for quiet reading during the day. However, both kids were happy to grab their books and find a spot to read on the beach towels.
For our 3rd grader, he grabbed his chapter book. He is reading the Horrible Harry series and loves it. After 30 minutes, he related to me what he read to help work on reading comprehension.
Our 1st grader grabbed three of her favorite books. Instead of requiring a time-frame, she just had to read the books to herself.
Even Mom got a little reading in during this time. It was great!
Beach Staycation Activities
- Sandpaper Art
- Scavenger hunt
- Read on the beach
- Play with kinetic sand
- Sand Art Bottles
- Create a picture with seashells
- Fill a bucket for water play
- Take a bath with bathing suits and beach toys
- Tie dye
- Create a picture with glue and cover with sand
- Make an ocean in a bottle
Are you going to try a beach staycation with your family?
Whether you pop on a good beach movie and spread towels all over the living room, or go all out with a day of beach activities, I hope you give this Beach Staycation a try.
At the end of the day, I had each kiddo separately tell me what a good day they had. It doesn’t get much better!
Remember to check out Joybees Footwear to get you in that beach mood. They are the perfect all-purpose and easy shoes for summer!
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