Do you guys visit the seaside when summer comes around? I live in an Arizona desert so we don’t have a sea by us. It takes 6 hours to get to the sea from where we live. Actually 4 I believe if you want to drive into another country, that country being Mexico, which is gorgeous. So much fun visiting Mexico. Usually we go to California to spend time at the beach, but we haven’t been in years.

My favorite part about the beaches are the tiny little shells and pebbles everywhere that glisten in the sunlight from the water reflecting off of them. Such a beautiful treasure to pick up and touch. The textures of the sand on your fingers along with the smoothness of the glass, pebble or shell. It goes along with the smells and breezes that come with a nice long walk with the sea by your side.

Everything about it is wonderful. The seagulls communicating with each other. The background noises of conversations from the people around you, kids laughing and running, and those gentle sounds of the waves as they try to reach out to touch you as you walk by them. Sometimes the wave will reach you and then you have the added surprise of the coolest of the water mixed with the sand on your feet. Everything is wonderful about a walk on the beach.

You will need:

Plaster of Paris

Shell mold (usually they sell these in the candy making section at hobby/craft stores)

Assorted paints

Decoupage glue like Mod Podge.

White chalk paint (optional)

First mix up your plaster according to instructions on package. You can purchase plaster at craft stores. If you want a large bag of plaster then check out the large home stores for that.

I will wipe the molds with a little olive oil before I pour the plaster into them. Some molds are very small with lots of areas where there are cracks and small corners to fill, sometimes those types of molds are a little more of a challenge when you are pouring a mold and it has a hard time getting out. I just barely wipe a little oil on the mold before I use it.

Let the wet mold dry for awhile. I live somewhere where it is super dry so it doesn’t take long at all for me to pop the item out of the mold. I just turn it over and gentle pop out the tiny plaster shells.

Let all your shells dry for a day, then coat them with Mod podge to seal them for easier painting.

I distressed my shells to give them a worn out vintage sort of look. First I painted them black/brown then I painted over that with white chalk paint.

You can paint your shells anyway you want. Get creative, add stripes, dots, or flowers. Whatever you want. If you have kids at home, create a art studio of your shell creations and pretend to have a grand opening of your shell exhibit. Also extra fun to throw in some pretend play.

ASD tips- It’s very important to seal the plaster pieces after you have made them, this helps children who may have hypersensitivities to certain textures like chalk or powder type textures.

Use water color paints to cut back on the temptations of pouring acrylic paints or other paints all over counters. Some children on the Autism spectrum love messy play sensory activities so they will do this.

If your child loves that type of play then use finger paints to paint your items with. They don’t really cover items well though but your kids will love it. This is about fun after all.

Find a nice sea side clip to watch while you work on your craft. The sounds of the sea and seeing real life shells and sand will visually help with encouraging your child to participate in this art activity.

Check out library books on the sea to sit down and share with your child. Do a whole week of ocean activities with your child. So many fun seaside sensory activities that you can do that relate to the ocean.

If I had more time on my hands I could do a whole month of sensory activities with sea animal themes for you all. Sadly I barely had time to do this one but I needed a craft brake from everything else we are all doing at the moment so I did this project one morning. So much on our plates right now, again…in a good way.

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