Islander's Beach

Which beach is best on Hilton Head Island with kids?  My girls and I love to go to Island's Beach off of Folly Field Rd.!

The sign before you enter the beach. 

You will need to bring quarters for the parking.  One reason we love this beach is because of the playground in front of the beach.  While I am getting myself together, the girls can play on the playground.  I can apply their sunscreen, and make sure I have us all packed up and ready to do.  The park is nicely shaded, and you may even see some local wildlife (birds and rabbits).  There are bike racks to park your bikes too!  

The playground

Swings 

The spinner

See-saw

Another great thing about the park is that there is a place to have a picnic too.  Let's be honest, sandy food is not fun.  You can walk down and use the restroom and then play while you eat lunch.  Then you just walk right back to the sunny beach.  The bathrooms are kept clean.  

The boardwalk to the beach is great!  You can look over at all the exciting plants and look for wildlife.  It is fun to see the beach coming into view.  The downside is the long walk to the beach, but the end is worth it! 

The boardwalk when you start walking towards the beach. 

I see the beach!

Another pro to Islander's beach is the mat to the beach.  This is great for strollers, carts, wagons, and wheelchairs.  It goes longer out into the beach.  The less you push or pull on something with wheels through the soft sand, the better! Now you will still have to push or pull a little is the soft sand, but not as bad as other beaches.  Islander's is usually a family beach.  Less teenagers and young adults, and that is great for young kiddos.  This is a great place to be on island time, and just relax.  No busy restaurants or other activities.   The waves and small, and not good for surfing.  

Walking out to the beach.  

While at Islander's beach, one of our favorite things to do is to find sea shells.  If you get there right after high tide, you can find so many shells.  I always pack a ziplioc baggy for the girls to put their shells in.  Once at home, we just put the shells in our garden, but they look great there! 

Some shells to look through.

Now you can also rent the chairs and umbrella from the beach patrol.  You can call ahead, and reserve it.  When you get there, your name is on the chair and you are set to enjoy the day.  You don't have to carry chairs and umbrellas, and you don't have to clean them up.  

Beach patrol set up.

Nice and relaxing!

Before you leave the beach, please make sure to fill in all holes, and throw away your trash.  Sea turtles do nest on the beach, and we do not want to loose a turtle because you forgot to fill in your holes. You might see some sea turtle nest, and they will be marked with stakes and orange flags.  Do not touch or mess with (there is a huge fine, and people will report you).  When you go to leave, back by the bathrooms, there are showers and a hose.  My girls love cleaning up using the hose.  It is quick and easy!  

Cleaning up using the hose. 

               So, I have been away.  I am ready to start blogging about the beautiful island I love on.  My children and I do so many wonderful things around the island.  I need to let people know about some of the fun things I do on the island.  Stay toon for all my upcoming experiences.

Here we are this March (2016)at Islander's Beach off of Folly Field Rd.  Please remember to always fill in your holes.  You can see one child in the hole trying to fill it back in.  The sea turtles have not started nesting yet, but they will be soon!  Hole can be a death trap for baby turtles, along with mama turtles too (especially these huge ones).  

Islanders is probably one of our favorite beaches.  You can pay the meters (bring quarters) or if you have a pass you can park for free.  

More to come on this great beach and park!!! 

Firework Painting

I wanted to do something with the girls for 4th of July.  I was not going out with them.  I would of had to of had them on my own, and I did not feel like dealing with crowds and intoxicated people.  So, instead the girls and I painted fire works!!  I gave them blue and red washable paint and let them go at it!  My youngest, of course painted part of herself, but that is all in the fun of painting!!  Besides, it is washable. 

Once they were done painting, I gave the girls each some star stickers to put on their poster.  Pinching the stars is an excellent fine motor skill.

As you can see, I put the paint in the girls' snack cups.  I like using the cups that have the handles on them.  It really helps them in grabbing the paint.  

The fireworks!!  

I gave the girls each one paint color at a time.  They had to wait to switch cups.  It is great to practice sharing and taking turns.  "You get what you get, and you don't have a fit."  That is what we say at home and in my classroom.  

Look at that girl go!

Of course it goes without saying, that no matter what they do, I think it is wonderful!!  

My oldest making her master piece!

Painting is one of my girls favorite things to do!  Washable paint is one of my favorite things.  Painting helps with fine motor skills, and I try and work on using their imagination too!

Colorful Ice

Alright, I saw balloon ice on pinterest too.  Of course it was done in the winter, but why not try it. (The blog:  http://hurrayic.blogspot.com/2008/02/colored-glass-tutorial-for-kids.html)  (Side note...  always give credit where credit is due)  I did not have water balloons, but I thought why not try it with regular balloons.  I had a few left over from my oldest's (Bethany) 3rd birthday party.  I am almost out of food colors, so I thought I would just use it up.  Filling them up started to show me why I should have gotten water balloons.  Obviously it did not work for me.  Have no fear, I will keep trying.  

My sorry balloons

The end result

I kept try to just see what would happen.  The morning, I got up with the girls, and decided to try them out.  I wanted to put them in the plastic pool with the girls, but our pool needs to be replaced.  So, I thought about waiting, but nah, we needed to use them.  The girls and I ran outside with our bowl to see what would happen.  At first, we just played with them in the bowl, but that wasn't any sun.  Then we tried to use them as chalk, but it didn't show up... just wet marks.  Resultantly, I thought of the one thing we shouldn't do... throw them.  Alright, I know it is not the best idea to teach your kiddos to throw ice, but why not?  Bethany loved throwing the ice and breaking it on the floor.  My youngest, Volina, not so much.  She kept trying to eat the ice.  

Trying to draw with the ice

Playing in the bowl. 

As you can see, I took the girls clothing off again.  Food coloring can really make a mess, and I don't want to have to do all that clean up.  Of course this time, the girls didn't really get messy.  Bethany ran around trying to throw ice to see what she could make.  Volina just kept trying to eat the ice.  

End result from throwing the ice

Bethany finding ice to throw

Volina eating the ice

Our blue diamond

More master piece from our household.  

Next time, I will use water balloons, and put the kiddos in the baby pool.  There will be a next time for us with these!  It will be so much fun in the baby pool trying to catch the ice and seeing them melt.  That will be so much fun!  Please comment to give me more ideas or suggestions.  Thanks!

Materials:

- water balloons

-water

-food coloring

Directions:

- put food coloring in the water balloon 1st

-Fill balloon up with water

-Freeze

- Cut off the balloon

-Have fun!!

Sidewalk Paint

Okay, so our frozen side walk paint did not work out perfect for us, so I thought... let's try another.  So, we tried sidewalk paint  Why not?  We love painting!!  And it can't melt since it is not frozen.  This activity is another pinterest one.  (http://pinterest.com/arinn18/toddler-crafts/)  This time I knew it was going to work for us!  I mixed each individual ones with food coloring and had great colors for the girls.  I carefully carried it outside and placed it on the sidewalk for the girls.  I gave them both a paint brush and let them go at it.  

Ready to paint

This time I did not take the girls clothing off... I left them in their play clothes.  The girls sat down and started to paint.  At first we didn't really see anything showing up.  So, the girls started to mix the colors to see what would happen.  They weren't really into the paint and nothing really showing up.  Once it started to dry, we did see the lines and dots they had made, but my girls were not into the waiting for it to dry.  

Mixed all the paint.

The girls ended up with a green mess.  They started to splash everywhere and try to finger paint with it.  You can see in the next picture the spots we made with the paint brushes, everything else was with the splish and splash of the little hands.  Since we had done the frozen paint, they remembered making the feet print.  They both tried to stick their feet in the cupcake tin.  Ha ha!  We made an even more mess, but it was fun.  

Splashes from the cupcake pan. 

You can see a few of the painting makes we made.  

And... just so that you know, all of this washed away in the rain.  Also, my grass has not been affected by any of the food coloring and corn starch.  Hey... it is all natural, so it shouldn't.  Also, reflecting back on this activity, I would change some things.  I would use huge paint brushes for the girls not regular paint brushes.  I would also make more of each color and leave them in a larger container.  The cupcake pan was great because they could not pick it up  or knock it over.  I would also take their clothing off, it  did get all over their clothes.  I will try this painting activity again.  I just have to find a way to make it work for us.  

Materials:

-¼ cup cornstarch 

-¼ cup cold water 

-6 to 8 drops of food coloring 

Steps:

1. Put cornstarch in a small plastic bowl and gradually stir in the cold water.

 2. Add your desired food coloring and stir. 

3. Repeat the process to create different colors. 

4. Put the sidewalk paint into containers to use (I used the cupcake baking sheet since that is what I saw on pinterest)