We’ve shared a lot of free templates and printables to help you have fun with your kids at home or in your classroom or preschool without having to spend a fortune. Here is an easy craftyactivity that I do with the kids each summer. I am not at all a crafting guru and this is super simple and hardly costs a penny, so any regular mum like me can have a go!

Once we got to the beach and I made my first sandcastle, I was thrilled to be able to pop the little flags at the tops of the towers, for instant charm. It’s perfect for using on your beach trip but likewise you could also use it if you are looking through a book about beaches. Mosaic’s are a great way to practice both scissor skills and fine motor skills as you glue your mosaic pieces onto your template.This palm tree template is one of our newest additions and I absolutely love it, it makes me think of fun, sunny holidays. Print out your favorite and grab your paints, crayons, coloring pencils or markers to use this as a sandcastle coloring sheet. Mosaic Unfortunately, I'm not going to the seaside this year... (sob!) But because I still want to see LOTS of sandcastles with these flags in, I'm offering a prize to the most impressive and imaginative sandcastle bearing one of these flags! If you want to have the chance to win an exclusive Joey's Dream Garden brooch, here's what you need to do:

You can find the full tutorial for DIY sandcastle flags over on the Sizzix blog, along with some of my other tutorials.

I used my Sizzix Big Shot Plus, Sizzix Bigz Alphabet Uppercase Die – Sassy Serif Letter “E” and “N”, a vintage map, coloured card, glue dots and a couple of vintage knitting needles. Make a sandcastle (it doesn't have to be on a beach; in a sandpit would do if, like me, you can't get to the seaside) If we are honest I am a little late getting this post up on my blog but seeing as we are having an Indian summer right now, I'll go for it. Take some ordinary A4 paper and cut it into 3 smaller pieces as shown, now it is the perfect flag size. This sea shell template is super sweet and would be a great inclusion to beach or ocean themed bulletin boards too. We’ve used this printable before to make a shell suncatcher which is a great way to use up some left over craft materials too.