Published: 17 July 2024
With the school holidays upon us, it’s officially seaside season. Whatever the weather, a beach trip always offers good value. If it’s too cold to swim, you can play in the sand, watch the waves, explore the rockpools, or search for shells. Walking on a windy beach is one of our favourite things! And if you want to collect a pretty pebble or a shell or two, there are plenty of crafty ways to keep the kids entertained afterwards.
Five Seashell Crafting Ideas
Seashell photo frame
Seashell photo frames can be a fantastic way to both display your shells and a photo from the place you found them. And there are a couple of different ways you can do this, depending on the age of the crafter. Also depending on their crafting capabilities.
1. For younger children, cut out a cardboard rectangle or square. Make an aperture. Paint the cardboard, and arrange the shells. You can also use thick, crafting lolly sticks to make a similar shape. An adult should then help to use a glue gun to secure the shells. Once dry, make a back for the frame out of thick cardboard. Place the photo on the back and glue on the frame. You can attach wire to the back to hang it.
2. For older children, try finding driftwood to make the frame base. You can then use a glue gun to create your shape. And follow the same processes.
3. Buy a blank frame from a craft shop. Paint it and use a glue gun to attach your shells. This is a great way to jazz up old mirrors too!
Seashell candles
This is one for the older kids and adults, and can be again approached in a couple of ways. By far the easiest approach is to make individual tealights from your largest, flattest shells. You simply need to clean your shells and buy some tealights. Remove the wicks, and melt the candle wax over a low heat. While the wax is melting, use a glue gun to secure the wicks to the inside of your shells. When the wax is ready, you can pour it into each shell, leaving enough wick at the top to burn. You can add scent to your melted wax if you wish to.
You can also make large seascape candle jars using Gelly Candle Wax. But they’re a lot more complicated.
Seashell wind chimes
If you have a lot of seashells, making a windchime can be a fabulous option. To start with, an adult will need to prep the shells. They should be cleaned. And then, using a very small drill bit, you need to make a hole in each shell. Decide what you want to use for the top of your windchime. A piece of driftwood or a stick may work. Or you may wish to use an old tin can for a circular design – just clean and paint it first. Lay out your shells into a number of threads. Then get some fishing twine and feed it through the hole in the first shell. You can either tie the shell in place, or use a glue gun to secure it. Continue until you have filled each thread to the desired length. Attach your threads to your chime top, ensuring that they are close enough together to touch when the wind blows. Then create a hanger for the top of your windchime.
Note: If you have any sea glass, it can make a beautiful addition to your windchimes.
Seashell art
When you’re making a design rather than a ‘thing’, you open the door to imagination. And that’s why seashell art can be so great for children. With this, take a sturdy background – it might be thick cardboard, canvas, an old frame, or anything else you might happen to have lying about. Even a piece of driftwood. The important thing is that it’s strong enough to take the weight of the shells. Then get creating. One of our favourite things is to make the outline of a fish with thick twine, glue it down, then create a collage of scales out of shells. But you could draw a seascape, create a pattern, make animals with shell bodies. Incorporate your other findings – sea glass, small pebbles, tiny fragments of driftwood. You must use a glue gun to make sure that the shells are properly secured. And then you can leave it to dry. When complete, you can put it in a box frame, depending on your medium. A canvas could go straight on the wall. Or pop larger, 3D items on a shelf.
Seashell Christmas ornaments
Finally, Christmas may still be months away, but it’s never too early to start preparing! If you like seashells and glitter, then this is the Christmas craft for you! And it’s super simple, so even the littlest members of the family can get involved. All you need is: your seashells, some white paint, biodegradable glitter, craft glue, a drill, and some craft wire. Wash and dry your shells, then use a very small drill bit to make a hole near the bottom of each shell (adults only, this bit!). When you’ve prepped your shells, you can coat them with white paint. When they’re dry, cover them with glue and sprinkle liberally with glitter. Once dry, you can thread craft wire through the hole to make a hanger. You can also use yarn or fishing twine if you prefer. And, if you want to make them super glitzy, you can thread glass beads along the wire.
The best thing about seashell crafting is that there are no rules. You simply need to experiment and do what makes you happy. And when you’ve finished, you’ll have a lasting keepsake to remember your summer holiday by.
Beach not your thing? Holker Hall Gardens has plenty of space for little legs to run around and burn off that summer holiday energy! Why not come along for a visit?