Mini Beach
Construct a miniature beach scene on a paper plate with dough, sand, and a jelly ocean! Add other elements that you love about the beach like beach umbrellas, fishes, sea creatures and sand castles.
Earth-friendly tips for this craft
Materials Needed
- Large paper plate
- Modeling clay or homemade salt dough
- Play dough or self-hardening clay
- Sand
- Unflavored gelatin
- Blue food coloring
- Cocktail umbrella
- Small sea shells
- Colored paper
- Blue poster paint
- Crayons
- Glue or scotch tape
- Paint brush
- Scissors
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Safety Guidelines
- Young kids (3 to 8 years) should use child-safe scissors.
- Handling hot gelatin should always be done by an adult.
- Watch out for this sign
. It means an adult's help is needed for the particular step.
Steps
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1. |
Prepare a large paper plate for the base of your project. Draw a line to mark the shoreline. |
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2. |
Paint the ocean portion of your plate blue. |
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3. |
Build the base for your beach with clay or homemade salt dough. |
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4. |
Cover the whole surface of the dough with sand. Pat down the sand to allow it to stick to the dough base. |
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5. |
Here are some ideas for decorating your beach:
BEACH TOWEL- Cut a rectangular piece of colored paper and draw some stripes on it. Cut fringes on the edges if you like. |
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BEACH UMBRELLA- Use a cocktail umbrella or make your own by forming a small paper cone and propping it up with a small stick for the handle. |
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COCONUT TREE- 1.) Roll a small piece of brown construction paper and glue or tape the edges to make the tree trunk. 2.) Cut slits along the long side of a piece of rectangular green paper 3.) Roll and insert the uncut side through the top of the tree trunk. 4.) Open up the fringes one by one to come up with the tree leaves. |
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CLAY DETAILS- Use self-hardening clay or play dough to model different things you see on the beach such as a colorful beach ball, a starfish, a sand bucket, a pair of flip-flops, or even some beach-goers. |
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6. |
Prepare unflavored gelatin according to package instructions. Since this step involves heating or cooking, it should be done by an adult. |
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7. |
Add a few drops of blue food coloring and mix. |
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8. |
Pour the hot gelatin onto the empty section of your plate to create a blue sea. Again this step should be done by an adult. |
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9. |
Allow the jelly to set at room temperature. Remember this project is not edible! |
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Earth Friendly Tips
- This project will last for only a day or two because of the gelatin. Before disposing of it, seggregate items and materials that you can re-use for future craft projects like sand, your mini clay sculptures, or the little cocktail umbrella.
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