Ocean Adventure Playdate Ideas

All this hot weather makes me wish we lived near the ocean. Visiting the beach is the quintessential summer trip – but what if you’re not near an ocean or lake? What if you just don’t have the time? Or if your kids are really susceptible to sunburn? We have all three so instead…we bring the beach to our backyard and created an ocean adventure playdate!

Create an Ocean Adventure – Set the Sea Scene!

We recreated beach excitement by inviting friends over for an aquatic playdate inspired by ocean creatures. Even without a beachfront, the kids kept cool and stayed busy playing with the water life.

The kids sat on a blue beach blanket to mimic the cool ocean waters. I read them a short picture book about sea life.

Sing some sea shanties… or just ocean-y music!

Because ocean waves are so rhythmic, we struck up a crustacean band, singing ocean-themed songs. It was easy to modify songs like “The Wheels on the Bus” to lyrics like “The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp!” Or turn “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” into “Tickle, tickle, sticky starfish.” The kids played on wooden instruments to clack, rattle, and jingle, and keep the beat while we sang (sadly, these instruments are no longer for sale!). Even the babies got into the rhythm!

Fish for fun with games!

Their imaginations full of ocean dwellers, they raced off as “ocean explorers” to return all the lost fishies back to their native waters. That is, they had to find the fish-shaped toys I’d hidden in the yard and toss them into a pool. They even found some quiet sea sponges! (Check out how to make your own sea sponges!).

Splash down into some water games

Now the water play fun began! We had a fast-paced fishing game using a water hourglass timer. The timer gave children a few seconds to “catch” as many sea creatures as possible, using a claw catcher pool toy! They learned the bigger fish were harder to catch, so they developed a strategy to catch the smaller fish first!

The sea sponges along with ocean bubbles (water balloons) in a collapsible water bucket begged for more attention. So the kids took turns trying to make the biggest splat ring on the driveway, or hit the highest-scoring chalk target. The kids screamed with laughter to find some balloons simply bounced, and that water-logged sponges made the best splats!

Since the kids were in a young age bracket, we did not encourage them to throw the balloons at each other. (NOTE: Please be sure to pick up all fragments of water balloons as these are unsafe for babies to find).

Cool snacks beat the heat

Sunshine fun calls for cool snacks, so the kids settled down to close the playdate with summer fruit tea (non-caffeinated) and a water-themed dessert of graham cracker crumbs, blue pudding, and fish-shaped goldfish crackers! Parents also brought bag lunches for an easy and quick lunch before the sweeter snacks were served. Having every family bring a lunch helps the host parent with prep time, and also ensure every child’s dietary needs will be met safely.