by Johanna Richardson

Created on: November 14, 2009

1. Painted Pebbles

Collect small smooth pebbles from the beach.

Clean them and let them dry.

Paint them with acrylic or enamel paint and decorate them with stick on jewels, glitter and sticky paper shapes.

These can be just ornamental, or painted to resemble animals.

Felt tips can be used on top of the paint when it has dried.

2. Painted Shells

Collect different types of shells, those like clam shells are the best as you can paint pictures inside them. Use acrylic or enamel paints, with details highlighted with marker pens or felt tip pens.

Let them dry and give them as presents to your relatives.

3. Shell critters

Collect cockleshells and clean them and let them dry

Glue 2 small beads on for eyes; use a marker to put a dot on each bead.

You can glue on small pieces of string, wool or any kind of yarn for hair.

4. Shell Mosaic tiles.

Using plasticine or other like material and roll into squares.

Press in very tiny shell or broken pieces of shells

Then let it harden and varnish the tile, can be used as coasters.

5. Angel Shells

Pick out some medium sized fan-shaped shells, which will be the skirt of the angel, then glue on a small cowrie shell for the angel's head and then glue on a small cockleshell for her bonnet.

Once the glue has dried, paint a face on the cowrie shell, glue on small strands of yarn for hair.

6. Seashell Boats

Use a cockleshell or a similar shell, make sure it is clean.

You will need a small triangle of cloth in any colour, to glue on a small stick, this is the mast.

Place a small piece of plasticine in the bottom of the shell and push in the stick.

7. Sand masks

Using a medium weight card, cut out a face shape. Cut out 2 eye-holes Spread glue over the mask and sprinkle sand onto the mask, let it dry and shake off the excess sand.

Then decorate with small shells to make a sand monster.

8. Sand Bottles

Clean and dry a soda / pop bottle

Using a funnel fill the bottle about 1/3 full.

Add a few drops of food colouring

Add small shells, small pieces of driftwood and some small colourful beads.

Glue the lid on tight

Then let the children shake them up and down and watch how they settle.

9. Shell Chime

You will need some yarn, cardboard tube, pieces of driftwood and shells and glue.

Tie several pieces of yarn around the cardboard tube, tying shells and driftwood on each shell, at different lengths, use sellotape to secure. Sellotape the yarn strings in place.

Thread a piece of yarn or string through the tube and knot the ends together.

Use shells to decorate the tube

Hang outside for the wind to blow them around.

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