The Best Beach Toys

The Classics

• Classic beach toys are like a '57 Chevy: They never go out style. On any give day, at any given beach, a Frisbee will be thrown, a ball will be paddled, a sand castle will be built and a kite will be flown. The classics make the best beach toys because they're light, inexpensive and take advantage of the beach's natural elements. While its still possible to find these items in their original formats, many have taken on new looks over the years. Nowadays you can purchase sand-castle molds and tools for creating elaborate designs. Frisbees now come with lights and whistles. And sport kites can put on aerial displays that would make the Red Baron blush.

For Kids

• Kids weren't designed to relax on a beach towel. One of the best beach toys for children is the Sandmill Dump Truck. The interactive toy is affordable, made of plastic and only has a few pieces to keep track of. The kit includes a dump truck, shovel, buckets and a working sand mill -- the kids will always have enough sand to work with at the beach. Another toy for the kids is Splash Golf. The set includes a golf club, plastic golf balls and a floating hole for target practice.

  For older kids, Spalding Beach Toss is like taking jai alai to the beach. The toy is cheap, durable and simple -- all qualities a beach toy should have. Two players have curved handles for launching the plastic ball to one another.

For Adults

• Adults have plenty of options other than lingering on a beach towel. The best beach toys for adults have a competitive nature, like boccie ball and horseshoes. Newer games that have hit sands across America are bean bag toss (corn hole) and ladder golf (bolo toss), both of which can be made at home or purchased.

Water Toys

• Water toys cover everything from water guns to rafts. "Squirt" is hardly the right word to describe today's water guns -- cannon or fire hose may be more apt. The Aqua Shock Arctic Blast, created by Super Soaker, allows kids to add ice to the water reservoir to give a chilly blast of cold water. For teenagers and young adults, skim boarding is an intense sport designed for the beach. A skim board is a smaller cousin of the surfboard that is used to glide across shallow water.