Kid's Crafts: Mother's Day and Father's Day Painted Seashells

We visit the beach several times every year and often times we take our grandchildren down to the shore along with us. The kids enjoy playing on the beach and collecting seashells, especially large clam shells that they find along the shoreline.

Like most kids...my grandchildren enjoy easy-to-make craft projects and as a grandparent, I love that this project doesn't cost me a lot of money...basically just painting supplies. You can have the kids hand paint these large clam shells (seashells) to give as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day Gifts, Father's Day Gifts, etc. My granddaughter is working on one that she's going to give to her school teacher at the end of this school year.

For this project we used large clam shells that measure 4 1/2" to 6" in width. You want to wash them with a little bit of soapy water, rinse them and then let them thoroughly dry. Make sure all sand and debris has been removed.

Cover your work surface with an old drop cloth, plastic table cloth, old newspaper, etc. Give the kids some acrylic craft paints, paint brushes, a water dish and some paper towels. Have the kids give each seashell 2 base coats of paint. Let them dry for 60-90 minutes or until the paint is no longer tacky.

Let the kids come up with their own artist designs and let them paint whatever they want on the top of the seashell. For this project they worked on Father's Day and Mother's Day designs. One seashell says "Mom" and one says "Dad". The smaller one has a heart design painted on it and my granddaughter gave that one to her Mom for Valentine's Day.

You will want to let the painted seashells dry overnight. Then take them outside and spray 1-2 coats of clear acrylic spray sealer on top. This will protect the painted finish from chipping, cracking or crazing. These painted seashells can be displayed inside or outside of your home. They look beautiful displayed in the garden, a flower bed, on the front porch or back deck!