10 Toddler Beach Essentials for Your Next Family Beach Vacation

Is anyone else getting ready for your first beach trip of the year?  Or maybe you’ve already had a family beach trip this year?  What are your beach essentials for toddlers and preschoolers – your must-have beach gear for kids?  We’re getting ready to go in a couple of weeks and I’m already starting to mentally prepare for taking our preschooler and toddler out on the beach.

Last summer, the littlest was so young that he mostly stayed back napping in the house with Lola or me while Little headed out to the beach.  But this year, it will be a full family affair and I’m both parts excited and nervous.  Mostly excited though.

As we’re getting ready, we have a special treat for y’all today – a very timely and helpful guest post.

Priscilla from The Mother Lode is joining us to share her Top 10 Toddler Beach Essentials.  So, if you’ve got a family beach trip coming up this summer – grab your packing list and let’s start taking notes.

10 Toddler Beach Essentials for Your Next Family Beach Trip

I’m getting excited for our family beach vacation in June!  I am looking forward to it, not only for watching my kids play with their cousins, but also for the sand and sun!

I’m a beach lover.  It baffles me that some people think it’s boring to sit on the beach all day.  I grew up in a large family and our beach vacations were always filled to the brim with people to play with and talk to, so it was always a blast for the kids.

As an adult, I like relaxing at the beach.  I could sit by the ocean reading a book for hours.  Dig in the sand.  Swim in the ocean.  Collect seashells.

Of course, some of these activities are kid-friendly, but it will probably be a very long time before some of them happen again – namely the book reading.  As a parent, you have to change your beach expectations.

It’s been many years since I sat and read a book by the ocean, and truth be told, none of my kids can truly swim.  In fact, they have always been slightly terrified by the ocean.  BUT, I KNOW we are still going to have a great time at the beach!  We’ve gone 5 times now with toddlers and managed to have fun!

Here are my top suggestions for beachin’ with your babies:

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Sunscreen

I’m all about slathering on the sunscreen BEFORE hitting the sand.  Once kids get sandy, it is SO much harder to get the SPF on!  I’ve never used a spray sunscreen, even though some people swear by them.  Our favorite is Babyganics sunscreen because it is nice and thick with SPF 50.

An Old, Flat Sheet

Towels are great for drying off, but they aren’t actually all that nice for sitting on in the sand for toddlers.  The roughness of the fabric holds sand.  I like an old sheet because the sand wipes off more easily for the kids to sit and eat a snack – or just stay out of the sand if they want.

Sandals or Water Shoes

It’s difficult for tiny legs to walk on the sand (and the sand can get HOT in the summer!), and it’s even harder when the sand gets in their shoe and starts weighing them down.

Be conscious of what type of shoe will help them toddle in the sand most easily.  We have these Keens and several pairs of these OshKosh water shoes for our kids.

Plastic Shower Curtain or Plastic Rain Poncho

This is one of my favorite “mom hacks” for beach trips with kids.  Bring a plastic shower curtain or rain poncho to the beach, then dig a kid sized hole in the sand.  It should be big enough for kids to sit in and have space to play.  Lay the plastic shower curtain in it and hold it down with sand around the edges.

Fill it with water from the ocean and TA-DA!  You have an awesome beach baby pool!  My little boys loved this so much.

It’s a fun way for them to enjoy the water when that giant moving ocean feels scary!

Sand Toys

Now, you can certainly buy all manner of sand toys.  Truly, as long as you have some kind of bucket and shovel, you can do so many things in the sand.

Old plastic cups and other recyclable plastics like yogurt cups make great sand toys that you can toss in the recycling bin at the end of your vacation.

Snacks and Water

I’m sure you’ll bring snacks and water, because, hello: KIDS.  But make sure you bring extra water for rinsing sand out of someone’s eye!  I swear this always happens to us!

Safety Plan

The beach is a great place to take kids, but it’s important to always have a safety plan in place when you go out.

First, swim where there are lifeguards, if possible.

Second, have a safety buddy plan in place so that each person knows who is each person’s “buddy”.  Or, take shifts being the safety lookout for everyone.  This is more for when there are lots of children that are familiar with all the adults.  In big groups, it can be easy for someone to slip through to the water unnoticed.  Last year, our family vacation included 8 children aged 4 and under.  It was the most fun chaos I’ve ever experienced, and I used to be a preschool teacher!

Third, it’s not crazy to do head counts every few minutes of your crew.

Lastly, if you have swimmers who aren’t afraid of the ocean, bring a safety vest, like these Speedo ones we use in the pool.

Activities

It’s always helpful to have a few ideas for things to do on the beach with the kids without bring a lot of extra stuff.  Plan ahead so that you don’t end up traipsing back to your rental because they don’t want to make a sand castle and they don’t like the water.

Some of our favorite beach activities are:

• Use what’s already on the beach.  Find beach twigs, seaweed, and seashells.  (Make sure to only give big seashells to young kids who might be a choking risk.)
• Use what you find to build structures in the sand, fill a bucket with shells, write in the sand with sticks.
• Play “I Spy” on the beach.  You can search for colors, birds, crabs, and boats.
• Play sink or float with a bucket of water.
• Bring a bag with a few old books, if you’ll be outdoors for more than a couple of hours.
• Other fun things that you can add in your beach bag:
  • a kite
  • easy to catch ball
  • old action figures or little people for playing

Waterproof Phone Case or Ziploc bag

It’s great to take pictures on the beach.  It’s not so great to get sand in your phone.  A waterproof case or even just a ziploc bag will help prevent that.

Your Best Positive Attitude

We all know that kids make everything 467 times more complicated.  But they also make things 578 times more fun, so it more than evens out.

Sometimes it can be hard to remember that, and we tend to focus on all the “stuff” that goes with taking kids out of our home. I encourage you to think back on your own childhood, good or bad, and remember how much you enjoyed or would have enjoyed a family vacation.  Regardless of whether or not your parents forgot the beach umbrella.

Be flexible.  Be patient.  And have a good time.  Let’s make some memories this summer!

Meet Priscilla

My name is Priscilla and I blog and podcast over at The Mother Lode.

I have three little boys who fill my days with joy and imagination.  (Also, potty time and insanity.)  I used to teach preschool, so I know approximately 234 kid songs and crafts.  I like to cook and create things, but I do not like to clean up or organize said things.

I only watch funny TV/movies or sports with my husband because there is enough sad and dramatic stuff in the world.  I like to write about motherhood with honesty, humor, and practical advice.

You can find me and follow along on Instagram (@motherlodepris), my Facebook page (The Mother Lode), and The Mother Lode Podcast on Podbean.