Summer settles in over the northern hemisphere, and many of us will have the chance to enjoy good times at the beach. Below is an image from our collection that depicts a family having such a good time, feet in the sand. Family times at the beach build lasting memories.
Did you know that making sandcastles can lead to a life of travels and even earnings? There are dozens of amateur and professional sandcastle competitions, mainly but not exclusively, in the United States and Canada. They also take place in the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, and in Australia. According to the Guinness World Records, the latest world record for the tallest sandcastle is currently held by the resort Skulpturparken Blokhus, in Denmark. It measured 21.16 meters and was made of over 6 tons of sand.
Find illustrated descriptions of festivals and competitions in the United States, in Susan LaBorde’s article on her Happy Beachcomber website. She is a dedicated beach enthusiast. The Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting Classic took place last week, and you can see what the masters crafted there by visiting their Facebook page. At ehCanada you can see a calendar of this summer’s events in that country.
Sand has its own museum at the Sottori Sand Dunes in Japan. What an amazing place. See the good tips they give to encourage us to get right into the action of sand sculpting.
If you can’t make it to the beach, there are always imagination and… sandpaper to save the day. You can make amazing drawings using chalk or oil pastel on sandpaper. Stacey of Capturing Parenthood has all the sandpaper art tips for us. There is also much more to do artistically with sandpaper, as we found out from Jackie Myers’ article on the Art of Education University website.