We pretty much mastered long beach days when my three kids were little. Every summer I took them to Marblehead, MA ( where we now live full-time) for 9 weeks, mostly by myself. We did it for ten summers and then moved here permanently.

I was solo with them most of the time, so we had to get creative about building in LOTS of independent play at the beach. Below you’ll find the ultimate guide to family beach gear that will last year after year, and get your kids playing without you, so you can sit in your beach chair.

Tips to make your family outings smoother and more enjoyable:

(Keep scrolling for gear, towels, beach toys, and more.)

Pack Secret Snacks: Pack a bento full of snacks and hide it in the bottom of the cooler. At the end of the day when the kids are melting down and you're trying to pack up, feed the beasts! Food makes the transition so much easier on everyone.
Deck Pool Bath: Before leaving for the day, I used to fill a baby pool on the deck. It'd warm up in the sun, and when we got home I'd toss all 3 kids in there with a bar of soap and call it a bath. Then I would feed them a simple snacky dinner outside and straight to bed. Win-Win.
Mandatory Midday Quiet Time: Implement a midday quiet time for everyone. We did this by putting one child under the umbrella, another on a towel, and the third on another towel. For ideas on how to implement quiet time, even on the go, download our starter guide.
Bring Icy Treats: When you are on the beach all day, keeping everyone hydrated is key. Pack an insulated thermos (like this one) and fill it with frozen smoothies and electrolyte drinks.
Put on Sunblock Before You Leave: Do the first round of sunblock before the kids even get dressed in the morning. You can avoid chasing excited kids and wrangling them into sunscreen when you arrive by doing the first round of sunblock at home. So simple, but it makes a huge difference.

Gear

Investing in solid beach gear is key. We are hard on our stuff and use it almost every single day in the summer. These are our tried and true, everyday gear items.

Sportbrella We love to use this tipped into the ground as a tent. It is super simple to set up and if you fill the pockets with rocks or sand, you never have to worry about your umbrella blowing away. It is extremely durable and the perfect place for your child to have lunch or quiet time.
Tommy Bahama Beach Chair I love a good beach chair. You know that meme floating around about how moms can never sit down at the beach? I beg to differ. If you play your cards right and follow along with my tips and tricks, your bum will be sitting comfortably in this chair.
Crazy Creek Chairs These are so versatile! Rather than lugging big chairs for the children, we bring these foldable mat-like chairs. They are also super durable, comfortable, and double as a rest mat. My crazy kids use them to protect their bums when they slide down giant rocks.
Turkish Towels These towels get really soft after a few runs through the washing machine. They are stylish, light weight, double as a sarong, and most importantly are big enough to make a beach chair fort-cover.
Plush, cozy towels have become our go to for long beach days.
Beach Canopy (These are as easy as putting up an umbrella and stay put with the sand pockets.)
Beach chair with shade This is an amazing “mom” chair. You can bring it down to the water’s edge to watch the kids and still have some shade from the sun. I am obsessed with mine.
Beach Wagon Glides over the sand easily and doubles as a napping spot for toddlers.
Clips for hanging towels and wet suits This is a game changer for keeping towels from blowing off your chair and for hanging wet suits off the umbrella to dry in the sun.
Portable Potty Oh how this little thing saved me. Line it with a diaper and a plastic bag, and eliminate the trek to the bathrooms with your little ones.
Stand Up Paddle Board We have this exact one and we’ve used it for four summers straight. It has been dragged around, bumped into the rocks and withstood multiple kids balancing and jumping off into the water. It is a great durable choice for an inflatable SUP. (We keep our infated all summer and only deflate for winter storage).
Wave Kids Kayack We love love love these. If you have access to a lake or a protected harbor, your kids will be busy for hours on these kid-sized kayacks.
Inner Tube A super thick and sturdy innter tube is a must have! It lasts for forever and anyone can use it.
Sand Remover These are the best way to get the sand off before getting in the car at the end of the day. it’s also good for sandy hands and tushies when you need to change a diaper.
Sunblock Applicator Kids love to use this themselves! I love that I don’t have to get sunblock all over my hands. We keep one in the bathroom and and one in the beach bag.

Beach Toys/ Tools for Beach Play

Want to keep your children playing, digging and having fun without needing to replace your sand toys every summer? The materials here are great for a huge age range and will last for many summers to come.

Sturdy Bucket Skip the cute shovel and pail sets. They crack easily and cannot stand up to years of rugged beach play. This industrial bucket will be your friend for sand castles, transporting water, housing crabs, and lots more. Need another chair? Flip it upside down. You’re welcome.
Sand Scoop These are a little pricier than those useless little shovels that come in a pail-set, but they are fantastic for digging, safe for the youngest toddlers, and still very useful for older children.
Sand Shovel These stand-up shovels are great as your children get older. They are sturdy and great for digging.
Colander Slightly strange for a beach list, no? Trust me, this will see tons of action from children of all ages.
Wood Spoons These spoons double as diggers, but can be used to mix ‘soup’ and play the day away.
Condiment Cups I could write an entire post on why these babies make the most versatile toy for children. Get them, bust them out at the beach, you won’t regret it.
Reusable water balloons These are so much fun at the beach, and you don’t have to worry about littering.
Crab Trap A must have for any adventurous little ones who like to catch animals
Shell collecting Bags We love collecting sea glass here in MA. These bags are perfect for long walks on the beach.
Mesh Shovel This isn’t great for digging but it is great for sifting.
Clear Bucket for Catch and Release If your children love to collect beach creatures, this is a fantastic observation tank for catch-and-release fun.
Plastic Animals and Vehicles are great for the kiddos at the beach! They can be buried, used in sand creations, and rinsed off at the end of the day!
Small Pool for Baby Fill this up in the beginning of the day and your little children will play and stay cool while you sit and relax.

The Food Situation

We go to the same little beach every day. There are no facilities, so if we want to eat and drink, we need to bring it with us. We tend to stay on the beach for seven or eight hours on a typical day, so you can bet I carry A LOT of provisions.

YETI Cooler This is the Mercedes of coolers. It took a few years of experimenting with crappy coolers before we got wise and made the investment. This cooler holds up to the hype. If you spend tons of time outdoors, it is worth it. Bonus? They have great customer service. Our zipper busted last year and they sent us a new, upgraded model to replace it.
Bumkins Wet/ Dry Bag I throw all of our dry snacks in here and use the loop/ snap to attach it to the outside of the YETI. This way, everyone can access a dry snack without routing through the cooler.
Bumkins Snack Bags Rather than using plastic, I fill these awesome, washable snack bags with our favorite dry snacks. Remember, these bags are not for food storage, rather they are for snacks you plan to use that day. I also use them for art supplies, and my own personal items.
Sistema Containers These are the containers we use for fruit and veggies. They seal tight and are easy for little hands to open.
Reuse Bottles I originally bought these to use around the house so that the kids would stop using a new glass every time they need a drink, but we love them so much that we use them at the beach as well.
Bento Lunch Box This has become my favorite lunch box of all time. In the summer, I pack it with fruit, nuts, cheese, crackers and a small treat. I stow it at the bottom of the cooler and save it for the very end of the day when the kids are cranky and tired and hanging on until dinner.
Freezeable Snack Packs These are SO handy for taking to the beach. It helps keep things cool and ice cold for as long as possible.
Tall Stanley Tumblers for holding ice pops. Add some ice in the bottom and fill up with icy, hydrating pops.
Popsicle Bags are perfect for making your own hydrating smoothie pops to take on the go. They also make great dry snack holders for things like cheerios, goldfish, puffs, etc.

Art and Quiet Time Bag

If you stay for long beach days like we do, your children are going to need a break from the sun and surf. I keep this bag fully stocked at all times and keep it at the ready for break time. Here is the list of what you’ll find inside.

Small Animals These are great for sand play and water play, but also for independent, pretend play.
Chalk My love affair with chalk continues at the beach. The children like to mix it with sea water to make paint and to color rocks and shells. Best part? It all washes off, leaving no footprint behind.
Clipboard I love a good clip board. The children use this as a hard surface for drawing, making bracelets or even eating.
Cardstock, cut into fourths. We use this for drawing, watercolor painting and chalk paint. It is sturdier than regular paper so damp hands can handle it without tearing. I cut it into fourths to make a little bit go a longer way.
Watercolors We use these on paper, shells, and to paint little toenails that wash off easily at the waters edge.
Colored Pencils I prefer these to crayons that melt and markers that dry out or lose their caps.
Books Some of my favorite beach memories of my kids are when we curled up under the umbrella with towels as blankets and I read to them while they rested or colored. Our favorite books to bring to the beach are Frog and Toad and George and Martha. Some other favoriters are Shell Guide, On My Beach There Are Many Pebbles, At the beach, Spot Goes To The Beach, The Little Island, Sea Glass Summer