Fun and Easy Seashell Painting Craft For Kids

Searching for seashells is one of my favorite beach day activities.

It is a great, inexpensive way to spend the afternoon and the kids love it. The problem is that after we get them home, I tend to have hundreds of shells, but so few ideas of what to do with them.

Recently, we were over in the Tampa Bay area and found TONS of these beautiful white shells and my kids went to town. We came home with a few buckets full.

And then the shells sat around for a while because every Pinterest idea I discovered online seemed either too lofty or time-consuming for my admittedly novice crafting abilities.

And then it dawned on me that the kids would probably just enjoy painting them. Seashell painting! It was such crazy, simple idea that I felt like a dunce for not thinking of it sooner.

I found this 6 pack of acrylic paint at the Dollar Tree and picked up a multi-pack of brushes to go with it.

Grand total of the investment = $2.12

Even though the acrylic paint is generally washable, I didn’t want to assume anything and prepared for the worst. The kids donned some older t-shirts and I laid down some extra plastic bags on our outdoor balcony. (We rent, so I didn’t want to risk paint stains on the concrete. Otherwise, I would have nixed the plastic).

I poured some of the paint into styrofoam bowls. However, Jessie ended up mixing some of the paint in the containers anyway. At less than .20 per color, they are practically disposable anyway, so I didn’t mind.

I attempted to tap into my #disneyside and paint some Disney-inspired shells. Can you guess my movie inspirations?

If not, don’t feel bad. ( Spoiler alert: Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel and 101 Dalmations) Painting has never been my thing, so I kinda winged it. The kids’ ended up a little more abstract.

We spent a solid hour and a half painting and enjoying the time together. Afterwards, I let them sit on the patio for just a bit. Since, acrylic paint dries fairly quickly, within a couple of hours they were dry. I put them into a small glass vase I had found at the Dollar Tree and now they are all a wonderfully cohesive, colorful display piece in my office.

This idea is similar to painting rocks, which is a great option if you don’t have seashells handy. My friend in the blogosphere, Marybeth, is much craftier than I. She has some really cool stuff over at lifestyleforreallife.com and you should check out her post on rock painting.

For around $3, we had a fun-filled, creative afternoon reminiscing about our beach day. Pinterest has no shortage of ideas for seashell crafts for kids, but I loved the simplicity that this afternoon with my kiddos entailed and seeing what creativity they put into their shells.