How to Build a Great Sand Castle
Filed Under Things To Do |
Building a sand castle - a popular activity on cheap beach vacations, especially when there are children involved. You can do better work with your hands and your buckets and your imagination than any cheap plastic molds. However, do not expect to create intricate sculptures like you see at some sandcastle competitions. Most beach sand is composed of sand that has been ground into sand from the rocks and cliffs around. Because of this grinding, the sand grains are round. They stick together nicely with water, but as they dry out, they roll apart from one another; like marbles stacked in an overturned glass that roll across the table when you lift the glass. So structures over a yard high will be extremely difficult to create without special “square sand.”
The mortar between your sand grains is the water. You need wet sand to build your castle; you either need to dig down to the water table ( depending on the distance to the ocean, it could be a shallow or a deep hole ) or to make many trips with a bucket and dumping water on the previously dry sand. I recommend the hole method; then I can partially fill it in later and have a little “quarry” behind the castle. Scoop out handfuls of sand and place them gently where you want them. Do not pound or pat the sand, you just want to evenly distribute the water between the grains. Instead, jiggle the wall carefully.
To build a tower, use your handfuls of sand in your hands, and form bricks with your hands. Gently shake the sand until the brick sets, and then build another next to it. Once they’re up, you can sculpt the top into a conical shape with your hand by making small shavings down from the top at an angle. Between the towers make walls which also consist of handfuls of sand on top of one another. When the wall is complete, you can carve the top flat or crenelated, and you can even carefully scoop out an archway to use as a door.
I like to emphasize the height of my towers by digging a shallow trench, or moat, around the base of the castle. This makes use of the pre-existing wet sand and helps it look taller.
Cap the towers with bits of seaweed for trim, and grab the family for a photo op!
