August is known for the dog days of summer—a month to frolic in the sun, enjoy the beach, and take pleasure in summer’s last full month. It’s a month that’s full of summer-related holidays as well. Holidays include National Watermelon Day (August 3rd), National Frozen Custard Day (August 8th), and the holiday we’re going to be talking about in this article: Play in the Sand Day.

This holiday is observed annually on August 11th and is a day for people to come together and enjoy the simple pleasure of playing in the sand. It’s a day for sandcastles, playing beach bocce, or playing sand cornhole. In other words, it’s a day of fun!

The History of Play in the Sand Day

Unfortunately, Play in the Sand Day is a holiday that doesn’t have a clear lineage. No one really knows who invented this holiday or when it was invented. We’re sure it was probably invented by an individual or an organization to encourage beach play, but that’s all we can deduce about this holiday or where it may have come from.

What we do know is that people have enjoyed playing in the sand since the beginning of humanity. For ancient civilizations, the beach was a place to secure food from the ocean, as well as to pick up shells and other materials that could be turned into jewelry. Of course, ancient humans also couldn’t resist playing in the sand, as evidenced by pictographs of children playing in the sand that have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

Some Incredible Facts About Sand

Since we’re doing an article about a sand-related holiday, we thought we’d take the liberty of looking up some sand-related facts to share with everyone. The following list of facts is what we uncovered and think fans of Play in the Sand Day will really appreciate.

• Sand is mainly composed of silica.
• Because sand is always moving, very few animals make it their home.
• Some animals do burrow into the sand to protect themselves temporarily. These animals include crabs, beetles, crustaceans, and beach flies.

Observing Play in the Sand Day

Play in the Sand Day is an easy holiday to observe. All a person has to do is spend the day enjoying the sand, surf, and sun. That’s it; that’s all a person has to do to observe this holiday.

Of course, if a person lives in a landlocked area that doesn’t have a beach, then it can be difficult for them to play in the sand. In that case, we recommend that a person obtains some kinetic sand to play with instead. We also recommend that people spread the news about this holiday online using the hashtag #PlayInTheSandDay.