Twice a month my 8 year old granddaughter comes over to my home for an Arts & Crafts Play Date with Nanny. We’ve been getting together for these special creative play dates since she was 3 1/2 years old. It’s a great way for us to spend bonding time together and a nice way for me to teach her some new skills.

We love to craft together and we enjoy “frugal crafts” that don’t cost a lot of money and we really enjoy upcycling found objects whenever we can. For this particular project I recommend that you use one of those can openers that removes the top of the lid from the soup can, without cutting it. This way the edges of the can will be smooth.

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!

Kids Crafts: Soup Can and Seashell Pencil Holder

1 Clean and Empty Soup Can
1 Roll of Jute
All Purpose, Fast-Drying Craft Glue
Cheap Paint Brush
Various Sizes, Styles & Colors of Seashells

Turn your clean soup can upside down. Apple all-purpose craft glue using a cheap paint brush around the bottom of the can in a single layer. You don’t need a lot of glue…just a thin layer. Use the brush to spread the glue around 1″ diameter of the can at a time.

Place the jute onto the glue and wrap it around the can in a single layer, making sure the jute touches the previous row (but not on top of it) as you wind it around the can. Apply more glue in the next section and keep wrapping the jute around the can, working your way up to the top and in manageable sections. The glue can dry quickly, so we recommend working in sections. Let dry.

We glued various sized seashells in a variety of styles and colors onto the front of our pencil holder to add decoration. The Princess just made a random pattern with them. The bigger shells we collected from the beach and the smaller “colored/dyed” seashells we picked up at our local dollar-type of store.

If you don’t have seashells, you can decorate the front of your can with colorful buttons, broken jewelry pieces, colorful beads and all sorts of other things.

The Princess made several of these cans to hold items on her desk to keep her pencils, pens, paint brushes and scissors neatly organized. She made two extra ones for me to use in my craft room and I have one holding my gel ink pens and another one holding my crochet hooks. Fun!!!

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Last year we started sharing with all of you some frugal craft project ideas that utilize found objects like river rocks and seashells. Some of the designs we’ve featured included Halloween, Christmas, Spring and Summer themes. All of these craft projects are fun to make, are inexpensive to do and even the older kids can make them.

Today’s craft project is on how to make a cute bumble bee which can be hand-painted on the outside of a large clam shell (seashell) or onto a large, smooth river rock. You can make several of them in just one day!

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!

Hand-Painted Bumble Bee Seashells

Large Clam Shells (clean and dry)
Bright Yellow, Black and White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish and Paint Palette
Newspaper and Paper Towels
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer

Our clam shells measure 5 to 7″ in width. We collected an entire box full of them from the beach last year. Cover your work surface with two sheets of newspaper.

Paint two coats of bright yellow acrylic paint onto the outside of your clam shell, allowing for 30-45 minutes drying time between coats. Make sure the paint is completely dry before proceeding on.

Paint three stripes onto the shell using black acrylic paint and then a 3/4 circle using the black acrylic paint to make the bumble bee’s head. We were able to do this using ONLY one coat of black paint. Let dry for 30-45 minutes. Make sure it’s dry before proceeding on.

Using white acrylic paint…dot on two oval-shaped eyes. Dot on tiny white dots with the paint to make two antenna on the bee’s head and upper body. Let dry. Using the black acrylic paint, dot on the pupils inside each white eye. Let dry for 2-3 hours.

Lay two sheets of newspaper down outside. Lightly spray one coat of clear acrylic sealer onto the shell. Wait 30 minutes and then spray on a second coat. Let dry for several hours. The hand-painted artwork is now protected and you can display your seashells 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!