Leap Sandcastle

Since 2014, ZFA has been participating in the Leap Sandcastle Classic in San Francisco, the largest sandcastle competition in Northern California. Leap Arts & Education (Leap), a nonprofit in the Bay Area, started the competition in 1983 to help support art programs for elementary students, and now more than 25 local schools and 500 donating companies and advertisers participate each year. Thousands of people come out to Ocean Beach in October to enjoy the free event.

What does the sandcastle event involve? Each team includes local elementary students, architects, engineers, contractors, and designers. Creating the giant sand sculptures starts in the classroom with students drawing sketches and making 3D playdough models. They work with the architecture team members to come up with the design, and the architects complete a plan, section, and 3D model. ZFA joins the contractor, architect, and students to discuss how the sandcastle will be built, which involves laying out gridlines on the school playground and drawing the design in quadrants.

Teammates meet at the beach on competition day to bring their ideas to life in a 20′ by 20′ space! Sandcastle building takes place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony, castle demolition, and re-filling the holes on the beach, of course.

Why we keep building sandcastles. ZFA has participated in many of the events and crafted sand scenes of animals, planets, bridges, and Star Wars, to name a few. The students’ smiles continue to inspire us, and the Sandcastle Classic is one way that ZFA supports Leap’s art programs, which reach 8,000 Bay Area children in more than 30 elementary schools each year. Leap gives students a chance to work with professional teaching artists in their classrooms, whether for in-school, afterschool, or summer programs.

At ZFA we have a passion for engineering—we hope our time building sandcastles sparks an appreciation for construction with local students, whether it’s with wood, metal, or sand!