Kid’s Craft Project – Tropical Fish Painted Seashells

For the past 9 months we’ve been sharing with all of you several seashell and clam shell theme’d craft projects. Every time we go down to the beach house, we come home with several large bags of collected seashells and are always looking for fun ways to use them in our crafting projects. You can find over 50+ seashell craft designs right here on our blog.

Today’s kid’s seashell craft project is super easy-to-make and my 9 year old granddaughter had a fun time making them in a variety of different colors. You can change up the paint colors to coincide with your favorite colors or theme.

Note: We used clean and dry x-large clam shells that we collected from the beach. Each one measures at least 5″ in width.  The smaller scallop seashell measures about 2 1/2″ in width. If you don’t have seashells, you can use river rocks too! Even though my granddaughter made them, I did have to assist her when it came to using the extra-strong adhesive.

Kid’s Craft Project – Tropical Fish Painted Seashells

Large Clean Clam Shell
Small Scallop Seashell
Acrylic Paints (in desired colors)
Black Fine-Tip Sharpie Marker
Paint brush, water dish, paint palette
Newspaper and paper towels
E-600 Adhesive
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer

Cover your work surface with a few sheets of newspaper.

Have the adult glue the smaller scallop seashell to the narrow edge of the large clam shell as shown in the photograph using E-6000 adhesive. This will need to dry for several hours to get a strong bond. (best left to dry overnight).

Let the child paint their seashell fish in their desired colors and style. They can make them striped, with polka dots or however they would like to decorate them. For the most part, we had to use two coats of paint. If you’re using darker colors, you can most likely get away with using just one coat of acrylic paint.

Once the paint is dry, let them use the black Sharpie Marker to add the mouth and outline the eye which helps the eye to “pop” on the background. Let dry for at least one hour.

Take two sheets of newspaper outside and lay your painted tropical fish on top. Lightly spray one coat of clear acrylic sealer onto the clam shell. Let dry for 30-45 minutes and then apply a second coat. Let dry overnight. Your seashells are now protected and can be used indoors or outdoors.

* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site. Thank you!