shell craft | There's Just One Mommy

Seashell Craft: Create a Beach-Themed Fairy House

OneMommy — Sun, 31 May 2015 14:12:29 +0000

One of our favorite crafts every year is building a fairy house for the garden. (Have a boy? You can make a beetle house or even a toad house!) This year we decided to create a seashell fairy house. It’s the perfect summer craft for all those seashells from the beach.

We started of just as we did with our recycled fairy houses, looking for the perfect plastic container to create the structure.

Once we found one we liked, we got out shells, beads, and other trinkets and started planning.

The first step was cutting a door into the side of our container. You could also cut out windows if you’d like.

Then we used hot glue to start adding seashells. Starting along the bottom edge allows you to overlap the shells as you go up.

We used mostly simple white clam shells, adding in some colorful scallop shells here and there.

Then came my daughter’s favorite part. We added a variety of colorful beads and a pretty silk sunflower to the top of the house.

And because every fairy house should have a bell, we used a bit of pipe cleaner to hang one on the inside of the doorway.

Seashells can also be used to create cute chairs and tables to go inside the house.

And, if you want to keep the fairy house (and potential visitors) safe from the family cat or dog, putting it into a hanging flower basket works great. This simple seashell craft makes a cute fairy house for the garden and is the perfect summer craft after that trip to the beach.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Inspired Seashell Craft

OneMommy — Tue, 26 May 2015 12:52:34 +0000

I love it when we find an activity the kids want to do over and over! My seven year-old was hooked on our super simple shell craft; she designed shells for several days. Her favorites? These awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle inspired seashells!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Craft

This craft was completely my 8 year-old’s idea. To create your own seashell ninja turtles you will need plain white clam shells and permanent markers.

For each TMNT you wish to make, first outline all the details with a black permanent marker. This is important so the eye area doesn’t get colored!

Then color each face mask the appropriate color: red, purple, orange, or blue. Finally, color the rest of the turtle green.

My daughter opted to make Raphael angry — leaving his eyes white like the cartoon often does. (I love that detail!)

Check out Michaelangelo’s big smile!

Have a TMNT fan?

This simple shell craft is sure to be a hit! (And now they’ll be able to REALLY have that “hero in a half shell!”

Simple Shell Art for Kids

OneMommy — Sun, 17 May 2015 17:33:46 +0000

Heading to the beach this summer? If your kids are anything like mine you will come home with buckets of seashells. This simple shell craft is the perfect summer craft after that trip to the beach.

Spread out a variety of seashells for the kids to choose from. You will also need a variety of permanent markers. I love my collection of Sharpie markers (affiliate link).

This is a totally open-ended camp craft. Allow the kids to decorate the shells however they want to. They may do stripes and polka dots, or they may turn those shells into animals and favorite cartoon characters.

We had shells decorated with Minecraft characters, tigers, rainbows, camouflage…all as different and unique as the kids who were decorating them!

I never expected this simple craft would be such a huge hit! In fact, my daughter begged to do it again several times that week. And, if a bit of permanent marker winds up where it shouldn’t, it’s a breeze to clean with this tip to remove permanent marker from little fingers and table tops.

Want to take this craft a bit further? Get out googly eyes for kids to add on, or try adding arms/legs to characters using pipe cleaners and hot glue.

This summer when the kids collect handfuls of white shells you will have the perfect seashell craft to do when you get home.