Beach Mosaic

What You Need:

• Cardboard
• Collection of shells, various shapes and sizes (sand dollars, augurs, conches, clam shells, etc.)
• Tempera or acrylic paints, paintbrushes, old newspapers
• Hot glue gun
• Pencil
• Optional: sand

What You Do:

1. Have your child plan out his beach mosaic by placing his shells on the piece of cardboard into a scenic arrangement. He may want to recreate a beach scene, using the shells to recreate waves, sand or ocean animals. If he has other favorite summer activities, he can create another scene of his choosing. Or, if he’s feeling free-spirited, he can just make an abstract design.
2. He may want to trace around shells with a pencil on the cardboard to remember where he plans to place them.
3. To add some unique color to his mosaic, have him lay the shells on a newspaper and use acrylic or tempera paints and paintbrushes to paint the shells. He may choose to give the shells a new color, or simply cover them with a sparkly or iridescent paint for some extra pizzazz. Paint can be used to help the shells resemble things such as a blue whale, a yellow sun, a brown bird, tan sand, or blue water. 
4. After the paint has dried (we recommend letting it dry overnight), help your child use a hot glue gun to attach the shells to the cardboard in his desired placement. If he’d like, he can also glue sand onto the cardboard to add to the beachy feel of the scene.
5. Let the glue under the shells dry before moving it.
6. He can share his beach mosaic with others and describe the scene he created, or see if others can guess what he has depicted!