Paper Plate Sand Dollars

Beach crafts are one of my favorite things to do. While I do live in a lake town, I’m smack dab in the middle of the Midwest. Nowhere remotely close to the ocean. Oh, but I’ve been there, and it’s amazing. I love the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the beach, that constant breeze that comes off the water, and the almost silent chatter of the seagulls. Yes, I love the beach!

So making crafts that are reminiscent of the ocean or the beach are fun for me. It brings me back to the days of sitting in a beach chair under an umbrella watching my kids build sand castles and ride boogie boards. If only we lived closer!

I got my inspiration for these paper plate sand dollars from Spoonful. They had a different version called Paper Sand Dollars where they used card stock and barley. They stuff theirs, which makes it a little harder for the smaller children, but great for school aged kids. By using paper plates, little ones can also get in on the action and get instant gratification, something the attention span of a preschooler needs!

I used miniature paper plates, but if you want to, you can certainly use regular sized plates. No hard rules here. I used dried white beans, but you could use barley like Spoonful did, or if you want yours to have a little color, yellow split peas would work great.

ANOTHER CRAFTY IDEA >> Spooky Eyeball Bucket

Put a dot of white craft glue in the center of the plate, then place dots where you want the tips of each star arm to go.

Draw your star with white glue.

Place dried beans along the glue lines.

Use your finger or a paintbrush to smear glue around the edge of the plate and dip it in sand. Let the sand dollars dry completely. Full printable instructions are below!

More Beach Crafts for Kids

There are soooo many different beach themed craft ideas out there. Lots and lots of cute crafts, I couldn’t imagine containing them all. However, the last link in the list below has a LOT, that’s my other site, Fun Family Crafts. Here are some of my favorites from my own blog and a few others.

How to Make Seashell Fish
Rainbow Jellyfish
Sea Creature Sand Castle Cans
Styrofoam Cup Sea Crabs
Colorful Sea Stars – Spoonful
Sandpaper Starfish – Meet the Dubiens
Everlasting Sandcastle – Meaningful Mama
Even more beach crafts for kids – Fun Family Crafts

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Paper Plate Sand Dollars

Supplies

Miniature paper plate
White craft glue
Dried white beans
Sand

ANOTHER CRAFTY IDEA >> Handprint Puppets for Halloween

Directions

Put a dot of white craft glue in the center of the plate, then place dots where you want the tips of each star arm to go. Draw your star with white glue.
Place dried beans along the glue lines.
Use your finger or a paintbrush to smear glue around the edge of the plate and dip it in sand. Let the sand dollars dry completely.

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Amanda Formaro

Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She loves to bake, cook, make kid's crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also the editor for the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip and owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com.