We love beach games! If you're planning a trip to the beach but find that your children get bored after a few hours of building sandcastles, give these games a go on your next trip to the seaside.

Here are our favourite fun beach games to play with your children.

1) Frisbee

The humble Frisbee absolutely deserves a space right here right now for the amount of different fun activities you can do with it. Remember to use a Frisbee which is age-appropriate; the larger and softer the Frisbee is, the easier it will be to catch. If your little ones' catching skills are still developing, turn it on its head and play with targets - set up a series of targets of different sizes and at different distances to have fun with this. 

2) Bowls

Whilst this activity may not be as heart-pumping as the rest, it’s the perfect game for the whole family. Very young children can learn their colours and it is great target practice for all age groups. This game is also known as Boules or Petanque. Equipment needed is 8 balls in 4 colours and a much smaller ball which is the target. Each team picks a colour to represent them and uses the corresponding set of balls. You can have a moveable oche to make it harder or easier for team members. This game is a must for after lunch when energy reserves are refilling but the mind is still able to focus on strategy and the tiny target.

3) Bat and ball

This is one of our most nostalgic beach memories; playing bat and ball with our siblings or watching a parent and child or grandparent and child swatting the small ball back and forth, every now and then retrieving it from the froth and swell in the gently lapping waves. The beauty of beach bat and ball is the cheaper the equipment the better! It might be worth having some extra balls in your back pocket and looking for a sticky mitts and sticky ball set for little ones who are still developing all the necessary skills for bat and ball. 

4) Beach mini-golf

Now we can get creative! It’s as much fun building the ‘green’ as it is playing the game. Let your mind go wild – dig deep, make tunnels, bridges, moats and castles. A good idea if the sand is not too wet is to store up plenty of kitchen towel tubes and use these to add structure to your holes and tunnels. Always remember to act responsibly and take your rubbish away at the end of the day. Once your dream green is built you just need a mini plastic golf set with plenty of spare balls or even ping pong balls for hours of fun on the beach.

5) Water bucket relay

Rather than the usual egg and spoon race, when you're at the beach this can be replaced with a cup, spoon or shell and water. Get your children to race to collect the water from the shallows in their container and then run back up the beach and empty the water into a bucket - the one who collects the most water wins. This is a great game to test balance and agility and kids will love the challenge of trying to stop the water from spilling. Before heading to the beach, make sure to bring plenty of suncream with a high SPF, a sun hat and UV protective swimwear.