If you’ve just come home from the beach and don’t know what to with the shells your kids have collected, then is is the project for you! Shell crabs can be painted in any color, and you can change their expressions” with the size and placement of their google eyes. If you don’t have spare shells around, you can purchase a package to experiment with.

Difficulty level: Easy
Time required: 45 minutes
Age range: 10+

Things you’ll need:
Seashells
6 – pipe cleaners
Google eyes
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
Scissors
Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

Things to do:
1. Paint the exterior of the shell.

2. Pull out 6 pipe cleaners and cut 5 of them in half.

3. Wrap the 5 around each other to make legs. Warm up your hot glue gun.

4. Once your shell is dry, glue the legs under the shell.

5. Cut your sixth pipe cleaner in half and set one half aside for another shell crab. Cut one of the halves in half again.

6. Attach these to the two front legs, forming claws.

7. Glue the google eyes to the wide, front part of the shell.