Shell Collage Wall Hanging

Shell Collage Wall Hanging

Make sure to coat the aluminum pan with vaseline and lay the piece of yarn in the pan before pouring in the plaster.

Place the shells where you want them and sprinkle in some sand.

It will start to harden after 30 minutes, but I let it sit for a few hours before I took it out of the pan.

Sand Dough Recipe

Sand Dough

You will need:
1 cup sand
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. alum
3/4 cups of water


Stir together sand, cornstarch, and alum in saucepan.  Add the water and stir until it is smooth and cornstarch has dissolved.  Cook dough over medium-low heat stirring occasionally.  The dough will start to thicken within a minute or two.  Scrape mixture from sides of pan while stirring.  After 3 minutes the dough will be the consistency of playdough.  Remove from pan and let cool.  The sculpt away!  The clay will take about a week to completely dry.

I used white sand and brown sand.  I had the older kids sift their own sand to make it more of a process.  They added all the ingredients to the pan and then I turned on the stove and they brainstormed what they were going to make!  Make sure to use very dry sand, otherwise it will be really sticky!  These are our sand sculptures!

Books About the Beach

Beach Day  by Karen Roosa
Sea, Sand, Me!  by Patricia Hubbell
Fun Dog, Sun Dog  by Deborah Heiligman
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Shell  by Lucille Colandro
Beach Day  by Quinan B. Lee
Our Day at the Seashore  by Amy and Richard Hutchings
Shells! Shells! Shells!  by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace