To celebrate their latest book launch , The Beach Book, authors of the Going Wild series & Muddy Puddles Partners Fiona & Jo give us their top tips on beach scavenging! See their amazingly creative & unique ideas here.
Shell Designs Make a shell collection, being sure to check that you only collect shells that no longer have creatures living inside them. Look out for whole shells but also for shell skeletons and for colourful fragments like broken sea urchin shells. Have a go at making the following;
- Pictures of things you have seen at the beach, or anything else that inspires you
- Shell mosaics, where the shells are densely packed together like this little fish.
- Try making patterns and designs, perhaps inspired by the sea or just created from your own imagination.
Beach Mobile
- Collect a few favourite beach treasures.
- Look for sea-smoothed driftwood and an assortment of shells, mermaid’s purses, feathers and pebbles with holes in.
- Tie a length of string or wool onto each end of the driftwood so you can hang it up.
- Tie your beach treasures along the driftwood.
- Ask an adult to help make small holes in some of the shells with a bradawl if need be.
Wild Wind Chime
- Hunt for beach materials that make a noise.
- Tie them onto driftwood, making sure they strike each other when the wind blows.
Safety Tip: take care if using a bradawl to make holes in shells. We would love to see your designs! Take a photo and send them to us at
info@goingwild.net or tweet us at @goingwildnet or post a picture on our facebook page facebook.com/goingwild.
Wildlife Scavenger Hunt Beaches are precious, fragile habitats that support all sorts of wildlife from birds and fish to seaweeds and many little creatures hiding in rock pools exposed at low tide. Many beach creatures are tricky to spot, but we can often find lots of wildlife clues, especially along the tide line. Go on a beach scavenger hunt at low tide and see if you can spot any of these things in the sand, under seaweed or among the rocks;
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Different shells - a round sea urchin shell, conical limpet, long razor shell, a sunny scallop shell, knobbly oyster shell and all sorts of other shells in all shapes and sizes. Or how about the smallest shell you can find, or a shell skeleton? Or some Mother of pearl (multi-coloured inside layer found in some mollusc shells)
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Sea potatoes – a type of sea urchin washed up when dead
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Seaweed – how many different types can you spot?
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Mermaids purse - the hard egg capsules of skates, dogfish and rays
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Sea wash ball – spongy egg masses of the common whelk
- A soft natural sponge
- Crab skeletons
Beachcombing Hunt The twice-daily tides drop all sorts of bits and pieces from near and far onto seaside beaches. The best time to beachcomb is at low tide after a winter storm.
- Can you find a round sea urchin shell, conical limpet, long razor shell, a sunny scallop shell, or a knobbly oyster shell?
- Or how about the smallest shell you can find, a shell skeleton, or multi-coloured Mother of Pearl, found inside some mollusc shells.
Safety Tip: There may be rubbish along the tideline, avoid anything dirty or sharp.
