The girls and I went on a beach trip last month with my mother and one of their favorite things to do was to search for seashells. Over the course of several days that we were there, we had several bags full to bring home!

When we had a rainy day back at home, these shells became the perfect material for a quiet painting activity.

This post contains affiliate links.

I set out the shells for them to pick from and several colors of tempera paint. I have recently tried a new brand of paint for our projects and so far I have been very pleased. No flaking like most tempera!

The morning we did this, the girls were bickering and fighting nonstop…as soon as they sat down to paint it was complete silence! It was therapeutic to watch them be at peace and totally engaged in this creative process.

This easy activity provided some fun and creative time with nature’s free materials! See what we ended up doing with these painted shells: Water Bottle Fish Wall Hanging!

Want some more ideas using nature? Find more ideas here.