Dribble Yourselves a Kingdom

The Guide

1. Saturate some sand: The key to making dribble castles is to get sand really wet. If you have a bucket, fill half with sand, then fill it to the top with water. No bucket? Build a ditch down by the water and pool water, but beware the tide. Advancing waves can devastate castles and wee makers!
2. Build: To make a dribble castle, simply grab and squeeze fistfuls of wet sand, letting the sloppy mixture ooze through your fingers. Plop each oozed bit of wet sand on top of the last to create a tower. Keep plopping methodically, until you have a tower that satisfies and still stands. What makes this challenging is that the ONLY way you can add sand to a dribble castle is by letting it drop from your hand.
3. Model it: Rather than explain how to make a dribble caste, simply start. Talk about how the wet sand feels and looks as it "dribbles" or "oozes" through your fingers. Once you have a bit of a castle started, let kids know you made a dribble castle just by letting the sand squeeze and drip through your fingers. Keep building, demonstrating patience, and acknowledging that this is indeed a challenge (even for Dad or Mom!).
4. Go deeper: Try to see who can build the most castles or the tallest castle. Build a whole world of dribble castles. Collect treasures such as shells, rocks, seaweed or sea glass to help decorate the castles.
5. Add challenge. Suggest that older kids (5+) compete to see who can make the tallest sustainable dribble castle or who can be first to set up a sustainable camp (e.g. 10 castles of a certain height).