Do you have a ton of shells from a recent vacation? Are you looking for a sea shell craft keepsake to make? There’s nothing better than a beach vacation, but how can you preserve the memories of the vacation? By collecting seashells, of course!
These 18 cute, creative, educational, and fun seashell craft ideas will surely bring back all those great memories of the beach and help create new ones with your littles when you work on them together. These crafts are a good use of your collection of shells!
19 Shell Crafts for Kids
Having extra shells around your house can be pretty annoying. Use them to create these shell crafts for kids. They will keep your children busy and make for some pretty cool masterpieces.
Seashell Wind Chime
I love all of the color combinations and possibilities that come with this seashell and bead wind chime. Use different colored beads or beads of different shapes. String them from a popsicle stick and you have a gorgeous decoration and keepsake for a porch or bedroom.
Sand Castle Puffy Paint Art
This a super cool and sensory-friendly art project for your little ones. Not only is this a great way to create unique art, but you can take a piece of your beach vacation home with you. Using items found at the beach, like sand and seashells, is fun for your little one to remember their beach vacation year-round.
Source: Still Playing School
Crystal Seashells
A fun DIY science experiment for your older littles, using seashells and borax to grow crystals. This fun craft is a great way to teach how to create and hypothesize a science experiment.
Source: Little Bins For Little Hands
Crab and Turtle Shell Fridge Magnets
This unique seashell craft is a great craft for kids of all ages. Taking old sea shells and giving them new life is a great way to teach about crafting and recycling.
Using simple crafting materials such as a hot glue gun, googly eyes, magnets, and paint can create these colorful shell animals and have them come to life on your fridge.
Source: Red Ted Art
Seashell Picture Frame
This easy seashell craft is a great way to capture your beach memories. Using a picture frame and attaching your favorite shells to it with either a hot glue gun or craft glue, kids of all ages can create this.
It can even double as a great memory keepsake by using shells from the beach you were at and putting pictures taken at the same beach in this frame.
Source: Martha Stewart
Seashell Angel Ornaments
With the holidays right around the corner, this perfect seashell craft is a must. Super easy, and the result is a unique and stunning ornament that you can add to any holiday display or tree. This simple craft is perfect for kids of all ages and is also very customizable.
Source: Crafty Morning
Painted Seashell Craft
Super fun and easy seashell craft; these painted works of art make this the perfect seashell craft for kids of all ages. One of the best things about this craft is your kids can do it any time of the year. Whether it’s a rainy day, a snowy day, or a beautiful sun-shining day, these painted seashells are sure to be a hit.
Source: Mama Papa Bubba
Seashell Necklace Craft
The perfect seashell craft for kids of all ages and a great beach souvenir. An effortless craft, and it will have your kids hunting for shells on the beach all day long.
These seashell necklaces are a cute way to create lasting beach memories using a few items from the craft store. Remember to help the kiddos with the small holes that need to be poked in the shells.
Source: Kids Activities Blog
Shell Fossil Imprints in Salt Dough
This fantastic prehistoric-themed seashell craft is perfect for sensory play or any child into dinosaurs. After having the kiddos scour the beach for seashells and items, they may want to make fossil imprints.
This perfect craft lends itself to so many other opportunities for imprint and fossil making. A fun way to make these salt dough fossils stand out is to paint them different colors.
Source: The Imagination Tree
Paper Plate Seashell Wreath
This seashell paper plate craft is absolutely fantastic. The perfect rainy day at the beach craft. This easy and fun plate wreath will be the day’s hit using just paper plates, sponges, craft paint, and glue.
Source: Rainy Day Mum
Seashell Puppets
This super cute and fun seashell craft is so easy to do. Using popsicle sticks, a hot glue gun, and some googly eyes, your kids can create many fantastic characters.
Source: Zing Zing Tree
Seashell Ladybug Craft
A super cute hand-play craft, this ladybug seashell craft is fun and easy to make. Create this ladybug craft using seashells of all different sizes, liquid watercolors or dye, and a sharpie marker.
The various color shells can be traded, used as math counters, or left for others to find fun decorated seashells.
Source: Still Playing School
Tropical Seashell Fish Craft
This cute little seashell craft is so easy to do but will provide hours of endless fun and creativity. You only need tropical color craft paint, a bit of glue from a hot glue gun, googly eyes, and assorted seashells. Your kids will get a kick out of watching these fun little seashell fish come to life right in front of them.
Source: Crafts By Amanda
DIY Seashell Sensory Bottle
Good news! This a great way to allow safe and investigative play for the tiny ones and a non-messy way for the older kids to play and explore seashells.
This fun and easy sensory bottle helps children to self-soothe and relax. Creating these sensory bottles is a little more involved, but the result is a fantastic no-mess bottle that is perfect for play on its own or a great addition to a sensory bin.
Source: Rhythms Of Play
DIY Seashell Mobile
An enjoyable reason to have kids explore the beach to find the perfect stick and seashells. This seashell mobile is almost too easy to make.
Using kite string, sticks, beach-themed beads, and seashells, you and your littles can create this cute hangable seashell mobile. You will need to punch a small hole in the seashells using a screw or small drill bit. If you can find shells with holes already in them, you’re one step ahead.
Source: Red Ted Art
Dyed Seashell Craft Project
A fun way to add a little more pop to your seashells is with this easy-to-do seashell dye project. Once the seashells are dyed, the shells can be used for any other craft. You can make a mobile, jewelry, magnets, or whatever you want to use them for. They even make a cute accent piece when placed in a mason jar with some ribbon.
Source: Rainy Day Mum
Seashell Alphabet Sensory Bin
A super cute way to involve sensory play and letter recognition all in one. Simply put letters on the back of seashells and add them to a small box of sand. So easy, educational, and fun!
Source: Pre-K Pages
Seashell Shadow Box
A beautiful way to preserve your beach memories is with this simple seashell shadow box. You or your child can customize these shadow boxes to any way you want them to look. They are a great way to create beautiful memories of each beach vacation.
Source: Completely Coastal
Melted Crayon Seashells
Have a box of old broken crayons or an older box that needs an update? This cute and creative project is a great way to upcycle those old, never used crayons.
Source: Artful Parent
These seashell crafts for kids are the perfect way to use any seashells you have lying around from past vacations. Are you looking to make these crafts and don’t have any seashells? Many craft stores, dollar stores, and big box stores carry bags of shells you can use. Enjoy making these crafts, and don’t forget to share your creations with others.