Preschool Crafts Jessica McGinn Preschool Crafts Jessica McGinn

Seashell Watercolor Painting (The Best Beach Activity for Kids!)

Did you know if you bring your watercolor paints with you on your next beach trip, you can paint seashells… right ON the beach?  This activity is so fun and it couldn’t be any easier!

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ MY TERMS OF USE POLICY FOR MORE INFO.

This past weekend we spent the day at the beach, and I made sure to pack our watercolor paints (don’t go fancy or expensive here - something cheap like this is perfect). With two kids in tow, we had a whole car full of beach equipment, but for this activity, the watercolor paint set is really all you need! 

(I will share some of our other beach must-haves at the end, though, so keep reading!)

Painting Seashells

We started by collecting shells. A nice variety of shapes, sizes, and colors makes this activity even more interesting!

I poured a small amount of water (straight from the gulf) into the paints. Even though we had used this paint set at the beach in the past and it looked dried out, the little bit of water was all we needed to revive the paints!

Ella (5) set to work painting her shells. The colors were so vibrant! It was the perfect mix of art project, relaxing activity, and sensory experience.

After she was done painting, Ella made a “pie” in the sand and decorated it with her colorful shells. I love when art projects lead to imaginative play!

Our Beach Must Haves

If you’re heading to the beach anytime soon (especially with kids), you’re going to want these items with you!

  • Beach tent - we only got ours last summer and I have no idea why we waited as long as we did! Make sure to get this kind that is all-in-one and easy to set up. We LOVE ours from Sam’s Club!

  • Beach wagon - we got this one from Sam’s Club too and it has been fantastic. A must-have for the beach, and also perfect for family walks around our neighborhood at home!

  • These kids’ camping chairs from Walmart. At $10 each these were a steal and our two girls are so happy to each have their own chair on the beach!

  • Beach toys -  a no-brainer, but if you don’t have a good set of beach toys yet, don’t forget to stock up!

  • Catch-and-release aquarium - **I can’t call this one a must-have because we don’t have one, yet!  So this isn’t a personal recommendation… But I have seen this idea on Instagram and it’s so fun!  Use this aquarium to catch sea life, observe, and then return it safely to the water!

Speaking of Instagram, if you try painting seashells at the beach, will you head over to Instagram and tag me there?  I would love to see how yours turn out!  Or comment below and tell me about your experience!


**In this post I shared links to products from Walmart and Sam’s Club.  We have a Walmart+ subscription and a Sam’s Club membership, and I cannot recommend either enough!  As someone who is pretty frugal, I don’t just sign up for every membership I see… but these are two that have saved my family so much time and money.  You can sign up for Walmart+ here or Sam’s Club here.  You won’t regret it!

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Preschool Crafts Jessica McGinn Preschool Crafts Jessica McGinn

Easy and Fun Paper Plate Ocean Craft

Happy World Ocean Week!  Whether it’s actually World Ocean Week when you’re reading this post or not, I’ve got a really fun ocean-themed craft to share with you today.  It’s easy, unique, and you probably have all of the supplies at home already!  (And if not, I’ve got a few links for you to some of my crafting favorites. 😀)

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ MY TERMS OF USE POLICY FOR MORE INFO.

We created this adorable ocean-themed puppet craft using a paper plate, craft sticks, and some cardboard from my recycle bin.  And of course, we decorated ours with our very favorite Kwikstix paint sticks (click here to check them out).

Materials needed:

  • Paper plate

  • Craft sticks (<— these Walmart ones are much cheaper than you’ll find on Amazon!)

  • Cardboard from recycle bin (you could also use cardstock)

  • Paint sticks (or washable paint, or markers)

  • Glue

  • A sharp knife and/or scissors

To create this craft:

  1. I drew a line lightly with pencil, about half way down the paper plate, all the way across.  Ella (my 5 year old) used this as a guide and then used our paint sticks to color the ocean background - half blue, half yellow (or gold).

  2. I used a sharp knife to cut a slit in the plate where I had previously drawn a line.  The slit shouldn’t go all the way across the plate - it should be about 3 inches wide, in the center.

3. The first thing I cut from our recycled cardboard was “seaweed”.  This was just four tall, thin squiggly lines.  Ella painted these green and then glued them onto the paper plate, being careful not to cover our slit.

4. I also cut out four fish shapes.  I searched for “simple fish drawing” on Pinterest and used that to freehand my fish.  Don’t overthink it!

5. Ella decorated the fish to her liking, and then we glued them onto craft sticks.  The hardest part was right here - waiting for the glue to dry before playing with our cute new puppets!

6. Once the glue was dry, I slid one of the craft sticks through the slit on the paper plate.  We were now able to make our puppets “swim” (and talk, and anything else our imaginations could come up with)!

This craft was easy, fun, and a perfect way to introduce the topic of Ocean Week!

Want to extend the learning with some ocean-themed books?  Here are some great ones!:

And of course, you can keep the ocean themed learning going by checking out my fun Feed the Shark activity!

Will you try this craft?  I would LOVE to see how yours turns out!  Comment below or tag me on Instagram to show me!

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