Tips and tricks to summer beach activities
What to do at the beach with kids and people who have ants in their pants. Sandcastles are for little kids with older children feeling the challenge of bigger things in life. Think driftwood and start looking.

Why is building with driftwood a good idea
- Foraging is active, it gets people out looking for found bits and pieces
- The imagination is stimulated to think about how to put found objects into a shape
- Everyone from the three year old kid to the teenager can contribute other cool things to do with kids
SIGH!
A few rules around driftwood magic
Leave what you find at the beach. Driftwood is someone’s home, the habitat for marine life. Take down the beautiful fort and leave the beach as you found it.
Driftwood is wood washed ashore by the action of wind, tides and storms, do not use power tools to chop up the driftwood, use its natural found form. Do not disturb shorebirds, marine life while collecting driftwood. And definitely do not remove from the beach
Your structure is temporary, do not destroy the environment to build your driftwood fort


Best beaches are the wild west coast beaches from the tip of the country to Hokitika, where driftwood is a summer festival
Check out the gallery of driftwood mansions, forts and objects to inspire your holiday temporary art installations.
What do you think about “Driftwood mansions & art at the beach”?
I`ve done it once with my family. Took us an hour or so and we had fun while my son played castaway. Fantastic memories!
Lovely to read it, never thought of that. I know what I`ll be doing next weekend.
Hokitika is one of the best beach for this.