Dig Your Way to a Super Massive Beach Hole

In England you don't get many sunny days, more importantly you don't
get many sunny days when its also not raining. So what do you do, jump in the car and drive for 2 1/2 hours to the nearest coast with sand. I live in the middle of England and its a long way in every direction. We traveled South to Weston Super-mare.

If you ever happen to find your self at a beach with a sturdy shovel, make sure to create your own complex of holes fit for child makers (well, unless you also happen to have an excavator handy). After a bit of hard work and concentration , you will find your self with a super hole in no time at all.

Step 1: Starting to Go Beneath the Surface

Wow, prestine English beach sand. DIG!

Check for other children being close!

Check for other families and adults for being too close!

Thats it start digging.

Step 2: Dig More........

The art to digging a big hole is well a lot of digging. The more times that you motion your spade at the ground the deeper the hole will go. I started to fid that water was filling the bottom of my hole after a while and this was causing the bottom of my hole to widen on its own.

Step 3: Get a Friend or Sister to Dig More......

It quickly gets the the point where the water ingress gets too much and you need to call in the troops. My sister was on hand so I roped her into building a secondary hole that we could join up.

Step 4: Enjoy Your Hole and Then Leave It to the Mercy of the Tide (or Other Children in Our Case)

After a few hours of toil not only did we have a hole that we could get into but we had had lots of fun. I love cooking and baking and my sister loves making but the most important thing is just to have fun and enjoy other company.

Being a little tired we left the beach and our wonderful hole to the goblins (other children) and made out way to the icecream parlour.

We noticed that not many children knew how to play on the beach and with sand. This is why I decided to write an instruction on how to play at the beach.

Comments

[Bacon1226]

its cool and all just dont get squished

[victorg6546]

Yeah you could die in the hole... You should also avoid the ocean because you could get bitten by a shark and die, or stung by a jelly fish and die. While you're at it, don't get in a car because people die in them ALL THE TIME, as opposed to dying from hole digging. Just to be safe, you should stop eating food too because the number one reason of choking deaths is a result of eating food...

You guys are all too tightly wound, he's a kid and wants to share ideas and creations that he thinks of, don't block his creative process...

[deadtedw]

First off, people walk the beach at night and can be seriously injured (broken leg, arm, etc). Second, it may not apply to this beach but some beaches (like Florida) have sea turtles that come up on the shore to lay their eggs. They can fall into the holes and die.
It's ok the have fun but children need to learn responsibility as well.

[corndog1122]

MUCH AGREED!!!!! well said, friend. Well said.

[lime3D]

Amen, Victor!

[lime3D]

Just voted for you in the Outside Contest and am sending you a free 1-year Pro membership. Good job, and keep up the great work!

[corndog1122]

That's AWESOME lime!!

[The Blake]

Thank you! And thank you for your comments. I was perfectly safe under strict supervision. Just trying to have some fun, I'm not going to justify myself to the other comments.

[JulianAzz]

nice idea, but i think it would be better if you fill it up again before you leave , it can be dangerous!

[corndog1122]

Yes. I have my kids fill them when through playing. I'm always afraid someone may break an ankle or an elderly person breaking a hip, which could be life threatening. (To my understanding anyways)

[bricabracwizard]

of course everyone wants you to be safe......but you've also got to have fun! Great instructable!

[Joe Petrocks]

Extremelly dangerous.

http://www.kionrightnow.com/news/local-news/man-dies-in-half-moon-bay-after-beach-hole-collapses/27098906

[The Blake]

from Blakes Dad, so your article was quite interesting. It states that a man dug a 10 foot deep hole into wet sand on a beach. That would be quite stupid for the obvious reasons.

A child playing on the beach, under supervision of a parent allows exploration, imagination, building skills and exercise. I think all readers would probably agree that it is good for any child. Operating a makerspace that is focused on supporting families means I spend a lot of my time looking at health and safety, completing risk assessments.

Excessive holes will be dangerous but while the title alludes to this, it is meant to be humorous. The example was a small hole with children having fun.

I suggest that maybe one or more people commenting might need a short break themselves.

[wannabemadsci]

AMEN! Well said!

[john.longacre.1]

As a person trained in trench rescue , please don't do this.

[EcoExpatMike]

Never NEVER dig a hole that is more than waist deep. Sand is heavy and if the sides collapse it will compress you HARD. If it just breaks your legs that is bad enough. If it crushes your internal organs (like kidneys) you may well die.

Ask any fire department "trench rescue team"

[lime3D]

Its the beach, not a construction site. Cut him some slack.

[EcoExpatMike]

Just saying. I do a LOT of accident investigations and you wouldn't believe what people do. And then say "I didn't know."

[graydog111]

Great instructable.......terrible idea. Good way to die.

I knew this was an accident waiting to happen when I saw the first photo. I am a retired fire fighter and this reminded me of digging out a worker from a trench that collapsed on him. The weight of the sand or dirt pushes in collapsing the lungs, making it impossible to breath. We had to dig completely to his shoes before we could pull him out.

Be safe. Don't dig so deep that you could be trapped.

[lime3D]

You are talking about a trench dug with heavy equipment. An 11 year old at the beach is in no danger. Leave him alone.