My grandson loves animals and spending time at our local zoo. He tells us that he wants to be a vet or zookeeper when he grows up. I think the love for animals teach our children to valuable life lessons. They learn responsibility, love, sharing, caring, etc.

One of his favorite animals is the African Elephant. He’s impressed with their size and how they use their trunks. He thinks baby elephants are the cutest things on the planet. For some reason, he thinks all babies are baby boys!

Last weekend we worked on a new craft project using seashells to make some of his favorite animals that he sees at the zoo. First animal that he selected was the elephant. After we painted and constructed our cutie we turned him into a refrigerator magnet. He uses it to display his artwork from school on the front of the refrigerator at his house. He’s so proud!

Kid’s Crafts: Elephant Seashell Refrigerator Magnets

1 Scallop Shell
1 Atlantic Slipper Shell
2 Small Clam Shells
Silver Metallic Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Black Acrylic Paint Pen
White Acrylic Paint Pen
Hot Glue Gun with Glue Sticks
Magnetic Disk

Note: An adult will need to use the hot glue gun to glue the seashells together once they’ve been painted. Regular school glue is NOT strong enough for this project.

Paint all seashells with 2 coats of silver metallic acrylic paint. We only painted the outside on each shell. Let them dry for 60-90 minutes. Glue the Atlantic Slipper Shell (as shown in the photo) to serve as the trunk. Glue the two small Clam Shells onto the Scallop Shell to serve as the ears. Let dry for 5 minutes or until the glue has bonded and cooled.

Shake paint pens thoroughly before using. Use the black paint pen to dot on 2 eyes. Let dry for 15 minutes. Use the white paint pen to dot on the inner portion of the eyes. Use the white paint pen to add two tusks, one on each side of the trunk. Let dry for 1 hour.

Flip your elephant over and glue on your magnet disk. We like to use commercial grade magnets so that they’re strong enough to hold up photographs and the kid’s artwork on the refrigerator. We buy them from Amazon at a really affordable price.

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This week’s Crafting with Kid’s project is easy-to-make and you only need a few supplies to make it. You can whip up several of them in just one afternoon! Once completed they can be displayed on a shelf, add a hanging string and use them as holiday ornaments, add a magnet onto the back to turn them into refrigerator magnets or spray them with clear acrylic spray sealer and display them outside as garden art.

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The seashells used for this project are ones that we collected from the beach while on vacation a few months ago. If you don’t have access to seashells, you can purchase them by the bag full from your local craft store or from Amazon. If you can’t find pink faux jewels for the nose you can certainly use a small pink pom-pom.

Cute and Easy Seashell Mouse

2 3/4″ to 3″ diameter clam shell
two 1″ diameter seashells
two 1/4″ diameter wiggle eyes
4″ piece of twine or jute
round pink faux jewel
light gray elastic cord
choice of glue (see note below)
scissors

Glue: If you’re doing this project with young children you’ll want to use a fast-drying tacky craft glue. If you’re doing it with older children who know how to use a glue gun…you can certainly use that.

Use glue to place the two smaller shells on top of the head as shown in the photograph. We placed them at a slight angle to resemble ears. You’ll need 3 pieces of gray elastic cord…each about 3″ in length. Glue the elastic cord on the front to serve as the whiskers. You can trim them to the proper length with scissors once the glue has dried. Add a small dab of glue on top and add the pink faux jewel to serve as the nose.

Add to small dabs of glue onto the head and then add the wiggle eyes. Use just a tad of glue as you don’t want it oozing out around the wiggle eyes…try to keep the face clean. Press them down into place. Cut a piece of twine or jute to measure 4″ in length. Place a dab of glue on the back edge of the shell and press the end of the jute/twine into the glue. Let dry. Once it’s dry you can trim the tail to the desired length.

Extra-Finishing Touch: I think its always nice when children sign and date their craft projects. They can use a black Sharpie marker and write their name inside the seashell and date it.

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