Collecting seashells at the beach is universally enjoyed by all ages. It is a nature treasure hunt, enhanced by crashing waves and soft sand beneath your feet.  A seashell mobile brings the beach back into your home, capturing a bit of its magic and beauty.

After returning from the beach, rinse and dry the seashells, sea glass and drift wood.

Additional supplies include scissors, string of any kind ( I used “takoito”) , bond or a glue gun (available at 100 yen stores).

Second, arrange the frame of the mobile. We used three pieces of drift wood, the largest supporting two smaller ones.

Another cool, and considerably easier, option is to make a chime, using only one piece of drift wood.

Many seashells have natural holes and if you look specifically for them, you may be surprised at how many you can find!  If you want, you can drill  holes in the shells, but we opted to tie the ones with holes or a twist and then glue the rest onto the drift wood. I think the glue gun works much better and faster than bond.

Tie a knot and then thread it through the hole as such, or however you prefer.

Hanging all of the shells onto the mobile gets a bit chaotic, especially with little children. I recommend hanging it on the wall first to get a sense of dimension and balance. For little kids, offer a specific job, like picking out the shell and the placement on the mobile. I would wrap the rope a few times before tying it onto the driftwood.

Older children enjoying doing as much as possible and tend to have a good artistic sense, so I recommend giving them as much freedom as possible.  This craft looks cool when it is asymmetrical, so there is no need to worry about it looking perfect.

Next, we used the glue gun to glue on the sea glass and seashells that didn’t have holes or were left over. This added so much color  and worked out better than I had imagined.

We chose a window box in the front of our house to hang the mobile, unfortunately I couldn’t get a decent photo against the light.  So, for the purpose of showing the final result I took a picture of it hanging on the wall.  You can hang your mobile wherever you like, ideally where there is room for it to twirl and spin, catching the late summer breeze.