These are the best beach toys for promoting healthy development in kids, as recommended by our team of pediatric therapists!
It’s summertime and that means it’s prime time for one of our favorite places…the beach!
The Benefits of Playing at the Beach
Playing at the beach offers so many benefits to kids’ development. The beach provides a natural and sensory-rich environment that fosters creativity and enhances motor skills, cognitive skills, and more!
The sand, water, and various beach activities are great for promoting active play, encouraging kids to run, jump, and explore. Building sandcastles, digging holes, and splashing in the waves contribute to their gross motor skills, strength, and coordination. These activities also provide an excellent opportunity for children to develop their balance and spatial awareness. One of our favorite activities is using the sand to construct your own mini golf course!
The beach also stimulates the development of the sensory systems, helping kids learn to generate healthy responses to the stimuli around them. The texture of sand on their feet, the sound of crashing waves, the smell of the salty air—all stimulate the senses. Sensory play is crucial for young children as it enhances their sensory integration and cognitive development. Beach play offers a variety of tactile experiences, allowing them to touch, feel, and manipulate sand, shells, and water, and more!
The beach is also perfect for nurturing creativity and imagination. The open-ended nature of the beach environment encourages children to invent games and engage in pretend play. They can transform sand into roads for toy cars or shells and pebbles into baking ingredients, all while fostering their problem-solving skills and imaginative thinking. This unstructured free play promotes flexibility and executive functioning.
Playing at the beach offers a range of developmental advantages for children, promoting physical growth, sensory integration, creativity, and more. And, there are so many awesome tools, toys, and products that you can bring along with you to enhance the experience. Below, you’ll find the best beach toys recommended by our team of therapists to promote developmental skills in kids!
A Day at the Beach Interactive Movement Game
This fun and colorful interactive digital game for kids is full of ocean gross motor activities that will target strength, balance, coordination, and more!
No fancy materials, logins, apps, or memberships needed! All you need to do is pull a PDF up on your screen! Includes a downloadable interactive checklist so kids can keep track of which stops they’ve completed throughout the game!
The Best Beach Toys for Promoting Development
Check out some of the best beach toys to take with you on your next beach day or on vacation! If you’re looking for fun ideas for the beach to keep kids entertained and active – these are for you!
Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Giddy Buggy Flashlight
Night walks are a must when you’re visiting the beach with kids! Use this fun light to search for crabs, turtles, and other creatures!
Melissa & Doug Sand Cupcake Play Set
Kids will love making their own cupcakes out of sand with this awesome set – great for building hand strength and bilateral coordination!
Find & Seek Scavenger Hunt – Beach Edition
Challenge kids’ visual and cognitive skills with a fun scavenger hunt game! Easy to throw in your beach bag and perfect for taking a break from the sun under the umbrella!
These cute kites are perfect for getting the whole family up and moving! Kids get so excited to see their kite flying high in the sky!
Reusable water balloons are such a fun addition to a day at the beach! Kids can fill and refill them with water to throw at a target to practice throwing a ball.
This set makes searching for shells and sea glass a breeze! Kids will have a blast digging in the sand and discovering treasures. Give them a challenge to find a certain type of shell or a certain colored rock.
This is a must-have for anyone traveling to the beach with a baby. Fill the little pool to keep your kiddo cool and shaded all day long as they get the benefit of sensory play!
Collapsible Sand Buckets With Shovels
This genius design will ensure that everything fits in your beach bag easily. Digging in the sand is an awesome activity for building hand strength!
Another super fun toy to take to the beach for some nighttime fun! This is such a great way to work on throwing and catching!
Playing cards are an awesome addition to your beach bag and this waterproof version is even better! Use them to play classic card games or try these card games for kids to promote gross motor skills and movement!
These are our top 10 favorites! Want to check out more of the best beach toys for promoting healthy development in kids? Check out our Best Beach Toys list on our Amazon Storefront!
Our Favorite Beach Activities for Kids
Be sure to check out some of our top beach activities for kids – all designed to promote various developmental skills!
5 Fun Beach Activities for Kids – These creative ideas will keep kids moving and get them engaged at the beach while promoting all kinds of developmental skills.
Beach Themed Activity Pack – Don’t miss this pack of fun visual, gross motor, cognitive, and fine motor activities – all with a beach theme!
Feet in the Sand Sensory Bin – A fun way to bring the beach inside! Or, try this activity on your next visit to the beach!
DIY Sandcastle Accessories – Kids will have a blast making their own windows, doors, and other details with these fun handmade sandcastle accessories.
A Day at the Beach Interactive Movement Game – One of our most popular interactive movement games! This one inspires movements of all kinds as kids make their way through the beach-themed story.
