The Princess and I are back again today with another kid’s craft project to share with all of you. This hand-painted tropical fish is made out of extra-large clam shells and acrylic paint. You can paint them any color that you would like and you can make several of them in a day…an entire school of tropical fish! A great project to use up those clam shells you’ve been collecting from the beach!
If you enjoy painting on seashells or crafting with seashells…you’ll find over 70+ seashell craft projects right here on the Two Classy Chics blog! We will be sharing more seashell craft projects in the future too!
Kid’s Crafts Painted Tropical Fish Seashells
X-large clam shells
Acrylic paint (in desired colors)
paint brush, water dish, paint palette
newspaper and paper towels
E-6000 Adhesive Glue
clear acrylic spray sealer (glossy or matte finish)
Lay newspaper down onto your work surface. Using acrylic paint in your desired color (we used turquoise), place two coats of paint on the outside of the clam shell, letting each coat dry for 30 minutes before proceeding on.
While the large clam shell is drying, find two broken pieces of clam shell to use as the fins. You’ll need to play around with your broken pieces to find sizes to work with your fish. This is a good reason to pick up those broken seashells you find lying around on the beach, to use in craft projects like this! Paint the fins in the desired color with acrylic paint, you’ll need two coats of paint. We used a dark strawberry type of color. Let dry.
Using acrylic paint, we made an oval-shape to serve as the eye and left it dry for 20-30 minutes. Once dry, we painted a black pupil inside. Let dry for 30-45 minutes. While that’s drying, have an adult use the E-6000 glue adhesive to attach the painted seashell fins in place on your large clam shell. You’ll need this adhesive to dry for 4-6 hours and be generous when applying it, so that you get a good, strong bond.
Lay newspaper outside on the ground. Take your new seashell fish outside and lay them on top of the newspaper. Have an adult spray two coats of the clear acrylic spray sealer on top, letting it dry for 30-45 minutes between each coat. Let them dry for 6-8 hours after the final coat. They’re now protected from the weather and can be displayed outside in your yard and garden!
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This is a very cut and clever craft. Kids would love making them to display in the garden.
We love doing crafts in our house and this one looks so clever. I love the bright colors that you painted they shells they are just adorable.
Those are adorable. You come up with the cutest ideas for shell crafts for kids!
These are so cute and colorful. What a perfect decoration for my backyard this summer.
How cute! They would make a cute decoration for my everyday tree on my front porch. I decorate it during the summer with “beach” ornaments.
So many things to make from clam shells. I’d like to see a picture of all of them at once.
I adore this series of shall crafts! This one is just as cute as the previous. This is a great craft for little ones and would make a precious Mother’s Day gift.