No trip to the beach is complete without collecting seashells. They evoke memories of wonderful, carefree days feeling the sand between your toes, swimming in the warm turquoise sea, relaxing on sun loungers and listening to the waves gently lapping at the shore.
The kids are eating ice-cream and the grown-ups are sipping cool, early evening cocktails. Yet no matter how old you are, finding a beautiful seashell will always generate a smile.
Most people come back home with a bag full, so let’s find out the answer to the question ‘what can you do with seashells?’ We’ve got some great sea shell craft ideas as well as some seashell crafts for adults.
Seven Great Seashell Craft Ideas
Seashells on Beach (Photo: sakchai vongsasiripat via Getty Images)
Just a quick word of caution. Some of the sea shell craft ideas below require the use of paint, glue, drills and other bits and pieces from the toolbox, so please be careful and make sure an adult undertakes the tasks. If you’re unsure about anything, ask in your local craft or hobby shop for advice. For all the following ideas, they are just that, ideas. Feel free to use your creativity and imagination to do exactly as you wish!
Seashells in a Glass Jar
Shells in a jar (Photo: yeowatzup via Getty Images)
One of the simplest DIY seashell crafts is to put your shells in a glass jar or a glass bowl for all to see. A pretty addition is to drill a small hole in one of the shells and hang it from the jar or bowl with some twine and write the name and date of the holiday where you got the shells. If you have any particularly beautiful or large shells, think about putting them under glass domes to really show them off.
Frame Your Shells
Shell Photo frame (Photo: Stas_V via Getty Images)
One of the classic sea shell craft ideas is to make a picture frame. If you want to know what to make with seashells that’s quick and easy, this is a great idea.
Glue some shells around a frame (or a mirror) in an abstract pattern and leave them to dry. You can add a holiday picture to the frame or give it as a gift.
Shell Jewellery
Shell Jewellery (Photo: Isabel Pavia via Getty Images)
This one definitely comes under the category of seashell crafts for adults. Making jewellery is a little fiddly but the end results are beautiful. If you’re lucky enough to find a shell with a hole then great but if not you’ll have to make a hole so please be careful. Next, thread a thin cord through and ensure it’s tied at the other end. For added detail, you can put coloured beads either side of the shell to make it pop!
A Beach At Home
Homemade beach (Photo: HeikeRau via Getty Images)
We’d all love to live in a house overlooking the ocean but for most of us, that’s a dream. But if you can’t go to the beach every day, let the beach come to you! This is one of the great DIY seashell crafts and all you need is a rectangular glass container roughly the size of a shoe box, some wheatgrass or similar, a few bamboo skewers and of course your lovely sea shells.
Fill the glass container around a third of the way up with sand. It doesn’t need to be even, in fact it’s more authentic-looking if it isn’t. Add in the grass and then glue some shells to the ends of the skewers. When they’re dry, ‘plant’ them into the sand. You can also add some smaller shells to the sand.
The Sound of the Beach
Shell wind chimes (Photo: Stefan Cristian Cioata via Getty Images)
Wind chimes not only look beautiful, they are very relaxing. This is one of the most popular sea shell craft ideas but it’s also one of the seashell crafts for adults and kids to do together. For this one, string up some shells and attach them to a hanger or a piece of old or reclaimed wood. The sound of the shells gently banging against one another will take you right back to the beach.
All Colours of the Rainbow
Painting sea shells (Photo: Evgeniya Pavlova via Getty Images)
For the younger kids, there’s few things more fun than painting, and if you’re looking for an answer to the question ‘what can you do with seashells’, one answer is to have a fun painting party! They can paint the shells any and every colour under the sun and you can even use the inside of the bigger shells as the paint palette.
Holiday Memories
Shell keep sake box (Photo: Natasa Ivancev via Getty Images)
Keepsake boxes are a great way to store treasured memories of great trips away and the addition of a sea shell mosaic on the top and around the sides is one of the most common DIY seashell crafts.
Where seashell craft ideas are concerned, you’re only limited by your own imagination and whether you’re looking for inspiration for kids or seashell crafts for adults, you’ll never run out of great things to do.
The only thing you might run out of is seashells!
