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Little Shrimps
Driftwood Mosaics
Shell Seekers
Kites
Beach Flower Pot Game
Scrub the Decks
Pit Pat Race Track
Sea Glass and Stone Collections
Drip Castles and Sand Sculptures
Beach Boules
Jurassic Mosaics
Sand Traps
French Cricket
Beach Rounders
Mud Glorious Mud

Mud Glorious Mud

Slipping and sliding around in mud is good for you, they recently found, something to do with the endorphins (don't quote us on that). And it's especially good for children who derive enormous pleasure from getting superlatively mucky.

Apparently the friendly bacteria in soil and mud (Mycobacterium vaccae) boost happiness by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. It’s good to have an excuse for mudsliding, if any were needed. It’s a bit of a forgotten pleasure. On estuarine beaches and inlets, look out for gentle muddy slopes where the children can slip and slide and get as dirty as they like. You can make the mud extra-slippery by sloshing it with buckets of water before they play on it, so they just slither down. Make sure to use the oldest towels and swimming costume you've got. After a mud slide, they never look the same again, because the tiny particles in the clay find their way into the weave of the fabric and it’s not easy to wash them out.