Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
Sandy Beach- Sand Castles
Materials:
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Materials for building
sand castles:
o Buckets
o Shovels
o Containers
o Anything to
help build a
sand castles
Containers to collect
sand samples: Plastic
bag, petri dishes, etc.
Flags to mark sand
castle locations.
Note cards
Glue
Pens/ pencils
Microscope- for use in
analyzing sand samples.
Camera can be used in
place of a microscope
Overview:
Waves, wind earthquakes and other forces can break down
mountains, rocks, glass, corals, bones, and other minerals over
time. They are continually broken down into smaller and smaller
pieces. These pieces eventually become small enough to be known
as sand: particles are typically called sand when they are between
0.06-2mm.
A beach forms anywhere loose materials are moved on shore by
moving water and can be made from a variety of materials
including sand, gravel, or larger stones. The type of material and
the location of the material depends on a variety of different
factors, such as speed of water and strength of waves. Areas where
water moves slowly tend to have smaller sized particles on the
surrounding beaches. The opposite is true for faster moving water.
At the ocean shoreline, sand particles can be transported great
distances if prevailing winds cause the waves to constantly strike
the coast at the same angle. These prevailing winds are what,
creates the beach shape and size as we know it.
Motivating Questions: The last time you were at the beach did you
build a sand castle? Where did you build it on the beach? Close to
the water or way back along the back of the beach
Engage: Students are introduced to the beach
and are given a task to learn more about it.
10 minutes
Explore: Students build sand castles at
different locations along the beach. To learn
first-hand how sand grain size is different at
different areas along the beach.
30 minutes
Make Sense: Bring the students back together
to share what they have learned.
20 minutes
Total: 60
minutes
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
Preparation (10 minutes)
 Gather all materials necessary to build sand castles prior to arriving at the beach.
 Mark out the areas on the beach where each group will build their sand castle. Use flags to mark these
locations. They should be equally spaced along the beach (roughly 1-2 m apart), starting near the water
and ending at the back of the beach. Try and use the whole transect of the beach to get a variety of
different types of sand. Example:
End groups here
Start groups here
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
Engage (10 minutes)
 Gather the group together.
 Ask the group to recall the last time they were at the beach. As
they are recalling use the following questions to generate a
discussion about the beach:
o What did you see while you were at the beach?
o What color was the sand?
o How did the sand feel?
 Have some of the students share their experience from the last
time they were at the beach with the rest of the group. Focusing
their responses on the questions you have asked.
 After the students have shared their experiences, have them think
about how they think the sand on the beach was formed, and how
it ended up on the beach. Some sample questions to get them
started could be:
o What do you think sand is made of?
o How might natural and manmade materials be broken
down into sand?
o How do you think the sand made its way to the beach?
o Do you think the sand is uniform throughout the entire
beach? Why/ why not?
 Explain to the students that they are going to be doing an
activity to that will help them explore the different aspects of
sand along the beach.
Tip: If you have a large group,
for this section you could break
them into smaller groups and
give them time to discuss your
questions as a group, before
answering them.
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
Explore (30 minutes):
 Begin by asking the students about their favorite beach day activity.
One of the most common beach day activities is sand castle building.
 Begin by breaking the students up into equal size groups. (3-5 groups)
 Space the groups out along the beach starting at the water and ending
up at the back of the beach, each group should be at a flag.
 Tell the students that they will have 20 minutes to build a sand castle,
some rules they should follow are:
o They should build the sand castle in the area they are assigned
o They can collect water from the ocean to aid in the building of
their sand castle, but they cannot collect sand from other
locations on the beach, they must use the sand in their area of
the beach.
o They can use any tools available to build their sand castle
o Have fun!!
 Let the students build their sand castles. Check in with each group.
Ask them questions about how it is going, what challenges are they
facing, what components are easy. Ask these questions to get them
thinking, not to share information about grain size differences along
the beach transect.
 After time is up gather the students together as a large group. Tell
them that we are going to go on a tour of everyone’s sand castles, and
that each group needs to describe their sand castle to the rest of the
group Some things they should cover when describing their sand
castle are:
o The basic design of their castle. Does it have any special
features?
o What were some difficulties they had building their castle?
o How did they overcome these difficulties?
o Anything else they wish to share about their castle.
 Collect a sample of sand from each sand castle location to be used for
further discussion on sand grain size.
 Gather the group together and them Have the students reflect on any
common themes between the different castles were there similar
difficulties throughout the different groups. Did some groups have an
easier time building their castle than other? Tell the students we are
going to discuss how sand is formed and how different grain sizes
develop.
Tip: Use flags to designate the
different areas you wish the groups
to build their sand castles.
Tip: As students are building their
sand castles visit each group to see
how they are doing. Give them
encouragement as they build their
castles.
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
Make Sense (20 minutes):
 Bring the groups back together as one large group.
 Discuss with the students the activity they just completed. Ask the students to share with the group
something’s they noticed as the different groups were sharing their castle with the whole group.
o Was there a similar struggle that multiple groups had to overcome?
o Was there a trend in the ease of building a sand castle? Was it easier for groups in a certain area
of the beach, than it was for other groups at a different area?
o Why do they think this was the case?
o What could be some differences in the sand at the various locations?
 After the students have shared their experiences, have them think about how they think the sand on the
beach was formed, and how it ended up on the beach. Some sample questions to get them started could
be:
o What do you think sand is made of?
o How might natural and manmade materials be broken down into sand?
o How do you think sand made its way to each part of the beach?
o Do you think the sand is uniform throughout the entire beach? Why/why not?
 Tell the students that to further understand the make-up of sand on the beach we are going to be creating
sand cards to get a close-up view of what the sand looks like at different locations along the beach. To
do this:
o Hand out an index card to each student, have them write on the corner of the card their name,
date, beach location, and location on the beach. This information will help them remember where
the sand came from.
o Tell the students to place a quarter size smear of glue in the center of the card.
o Have the students take a pinch or two of sand from the sample that was collected from the area
where they built their castle. Have them set the card aside to dry.
o Example card:
Name
Beach
Location on Beach
Sand
Sample
Date
 Use a microscope (or camera if you do not have a microscope) to zoom in on a sample of sand from
each section of the beach. Have the students take turns looking at the sample (Tip: If you have access to
a projector use a camera to project the image for all students to see at once, or have multiple
microscopes set up to allow for all students to look at the samples at the same time.)
 After the students have been able to look at each of the samples, have the students reflect on some
similarities and differences between samples from the various locations.
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
 Have them share with the whole group some of the things they noticed.
o Why do they think there are differences in the samples?
o How do they think the sand made it to its location on the beach?
 Have the students reflect on what they have learned during this session.
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: Edge of water
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: About 5 feet
from water
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: About 10-15 feet
from the water
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Sandy Beach-Sand Castles
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: About 20-25 feet
from the water
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: About 25-30 feet
from the water
July 12, 2012
Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Location: About 35feet
from the water
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