A well-sculpted sand castle is a joy to behold, but here's a beach craft your kids will really get into. This two-seater dune buggy has all the options: sand dollar headlights, a Frisbee steering wheel, a driftwood windshield, and a pebble license plate.
1. Get your assembly line rolling by helping your kids pile up a big mound of sand and pack it down firm. Now, start sculpting the body. Keep in mind the old artist's trick: Working from the top down, carve away anything that doesn't look like a dune buggy.
2. For our model, we rounded the car's hood and trunk; carved fat tires into the sides; and dug out a seat, a slanted dashboard, and a hole where the driver's and passenger's feet fit comfortably.
3. Once the basic shape is in place, your kids can add the trim: tire treads, driftwood windshield and bumpers, a shell hood ornament, a beach grass antenna, a towel seat cover, or whatever else they dream up.
4. As a last step, they can fill 'er up with shell gasoline, smooth out a highway and hit the open road.
