Sandcastle Texture Summer Art Project

Design your own sandcastles with this creative Sandcastle Texture Summer Art Project for kids.

Creating a sandcastle on the beach is an engaging and creative process. It’s a full-brain workout for little minds as they incorporate design thinking, math, engineering, creative play, and problem-solving skills while creating an enchanting structure.

Today in this fun summer theme activity we’ll bring that outdoor 3-D process inside by creating a 2-D sandcastle texture collage. All of the planning, designing, and executing skills will still be on full display, but you won’t have to battle any waves. This art activity incorporates a variety of different textures for you to feel and experience while also introducing a unique painting technique that is a perfect introduction to watercolor painting for young learners. 

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Sandcastle Texture Collage

Introduction to Watercolors

As an elementary art teacher to young students, watercolor painting is often a go-to and popular art activity. Oftentimes though, puddles of water overpower the artwork and the bright and bold colors get washed away.

Before beginning with costly watercolor paper I like to pass out paper towels and let my students explore and learn the technique of watercolor painting through trial and error. I often remind them to go “round and round’ with the brush in the paint cakes to capture the bold pigment and to use less water if puddles appear. However, my words only go so far, children need to learn by doing and exploring. Through failures come success and problem-solving techniques are achieved. If a bit too much water is used, the paper towel’s soft and absorbent surface captures the overflow and the paint colors bleed and blend beautifully. 

Design a Sandcastle

Before you begin to create your sandcastle be sure to plan the design of your building. What shapes and colors will make up the space? How many floors, windows, flags, and doors will the sandcastle have? Who will call the sandcastle home? Your child may like to base the look and feel of the sandcastle on their own home. This a great way to center the project on your child’s own experiences and surroundings. Then they may be able to picture themselves living in the space with kings, queens, and princesses. Other unique interpretations can include explorers, fairies, and even animals inhabiting the mystical sandcastle. Each sandcastle is sure to be one-of-a-kind and spark storytelling and creative thoughts. 

Materials:

1. Paper towels
2. Brown lunch bags
3. Sandpaper
4. Watercolors
5. Paintbrush
6. Construction paper
7. Glue
8. Scissors
9. Newspaper

Step-by-Step Directions

Paint and Explore

Before you begin to work lay out all of the supplies and feel each one. Describe if the texture is hard, soft, rough, or smooth. Texture is how something feels. Compare and contrast the paper towels and the sandpaper.

Lay out a piece of newspaper and place a paper towel on top. Paint the paper towel with watercolors. 

Design and Draw

Draw the parts of the sandcastle on a brown lunch bag. Squares, rectangles, and triangles work nicely. Also, create a high/low pattern at the top of a rectangle to form a battlement. This type of pattern is often found on castles. 

Cut and Crumple

Cut out all of the sandcastle pieces. Crumple them up and unwrap them. This action in art process will create creases, bends, and folds of texture in the sandcastle. 

Move and Glue

Set up the castle pieces on the painted paper towel. Move the pieces around and discard those you do not wish to use. When you like the structure design glue down all of the pieces.

Add details such as doors, windows, and flags with construction paper and sandpaper. 

Imagine and Tell

Tell a story to a family member about your sandcastle. Who lives inside? Where is the sandcastle located? 

Review the textures created in your work. What surfaces feel soft, rough, or hard?

Identify the shapes used to create your sandcastle.

Bring the artwork to the beach and attempt to build a 3-D replica. 

Art and Literacy

The book How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk is a great companion to this art activity. It highlights design thinking, sequencing, parts of a castle, and coding while exploring the challenges of creating a sandcastle with humor and creativity. 

Extend This Activity

• Here are some fun beach themed books.
• Use these Beach Theme Counting Mats to practice counting and addition.
• Try some of these Beach Sensory Play activities to dive deeper into learning about texture.

I hope you enjoy the variety of art supplies and textures used in this art making activity. Children are certain to be engaged in the creative process when a variety of art techniques are incorporated into one art lesson. 

We would love to see your unique and magical creations! Please tag @fantasticfunandlearning and @youngschoolartwithmr.g on Instagram!

CONNECT WITH VIN GIANNETTO

Learn more about Vin here on his author bio page. Follow along with him on Facebook at Young School Art with Mr. Giannetto and on Instagram @youngschoolartwithmr.g for art project ideas.

Get a Full Week of Beach Theme Learning and Play

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Beach 5 Senses Recording Sheet
2) Initial Sound Clip Cards
3) Seashell and Bucket Rhyming Game (-en, -at, -et, and -ug word families)
4) Seashore Counting Mats for Numbers 1-15
5) At the Beach Emergent Reader (2 Versions)
6) 1-35 Beach Theme Calendar and Number Cards
7) Beach Pattern and Counting Seashell Cards
8) Sand Castle Shape Matching Game
9) Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Matching Flip Flop Cards

Get Your Lesson Plans

Home Preschool Beach Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Beach Theme Lesson Plans