Bring the beach home with you this summer with one of these beach crafts:
1. beach memory jar: A layer of sand, a couple of shells, and a photograph make a memory in a reclaimed glass jar.
2. Christmas ornament: Put those same memories on your Christmas tree!
3. driftwood candlesticks: With the right drill bit, this is the simplest of beach crafts.
4. driftwood mobile: Add beads, shells, and other found objects to your mobile.
5. fairy garden at the seashore: Because even the fairies need to go on vacation!
6. fishing bobber keychain: Of course, you also often find trash on the beach–upcycling is a nice way to transform it.
7. glass vial treasure bottle necklace: Keep a bit of sand from your favorite beach with you in this glass pendant.
8. napkin rings: It takes very few shells, plus some lovely twine, to make each napkin ring.
9. resin seashell pendants: Show off your teeniest treasures! I like small-scale beach crafts like these, because then there’s no temptation to take more than a couple of special shells home with you.
10. sailor’s valentine: Shells make a beautiful mosaic in this traditional craft. Fortunately, the mosaic works best with little halves of clam or mussel shells, which are okay to take home by the handful.
11. sand candle: Use sand to make your own free-form candle molds.
12. sand volcano: This isn’t really a *craft*, but it IS super fun for kids!
13. sandy handprint souvenir: This is still one of my favorite crafts to make right at the beach, although if you’d like to do this at home, you can easily pour some sandbox sand into a shallow tray and get the same result.
14. sea glass pendants: Did you know that you can use a rock tumbler to make “sea” glass?
15. seashell windchimes: Just as with the driftwood mobile, you can add beads and other found objects to these windchimes.
16. shark tooth necklace: Your kid (or yourself!) will feel like a pirate in this necklace that she can make all by herself.
17. shell and twine bookmark: Keep a favorite shell with you while you read.
18. shell prints: Real shells make realistic prints on any surface.
19. shell spoons: How fun to eat your dinner off of seashells!
20. shell stars: I don’t usually take these kinds of shells, because I always feel like I’m stealing a hermit crab’s future house, but if you’ve got a few laying around (my grandmother, for instance, collected seashells and handed a bunch down to me before she died), it’s easy to make seashells stars.
Do you know of any other good beach crafts that don’t use a ton of shells, or involve starfish or sand dollars? Link up to them in the Comments below.
[paper boat image via Shutterstock]