We absolutely love sea glass. It is incredibly beautiful, and hunting for sea glass has become one of our favourite beach activities whenever the kids and I go on holiday. Over the years, we have brought home quite a collection.. and it is a wonderful way to gather beach treasures without damaging nature. After all, sea glass is essentially discarded human rubbish! So, what sea glass projects and sea glass crafts can you create with children? Can kids make sea glass jewellery? Keep reading to discover our Sea Glass Turtle Craft made using salt dough. Prepare our top salt dough recipe and create these charming summer turtles.
Sea glass jewellery is generally an adult-only activity! Sea glass pieces are tiny and therefore a little “fiddly”… making it tricky for little hands to transform them into wearable sea glass art. We usually sort our sea glass by colour and store it in jars. It looks beautiful and provides a lovely way to appreciate the treasures we discovered in the sand! You could even place a small candle inside the jar and arrange it among the sea glass. Sea glass candles are both attractive and very popular!
But what can you create with sea glass.. and if making complete necklaces and bracelets is too difficult for little hands… why not try:
Our adorable little Sea Glass Turtles.. or rather… sea glass AND Salt Dough Turtles.. that combines three of my favourite things in one sentence! Sea glass (so beautiful), salt dough (so enjoyable!) and, naturally, turtles (so cute!). Children of every age can enjoy making these sea glass turtles. I am certain your preschooler, kindergartner or toddler can make them.. and older children will enjoy them too. My 12yrs old LOVES them.
What’s not to adore about this children’s craft! Right?
Eco Warrior Summer Craft
Because collecting sea glass is essentially litter picking and homemade salt dough uses environmentally friendly ingredients (salt & water), this is an excellent Eco Warrior craft with plenty of possible uses.
The best part of these salt dough turtles is that you can adapt the project in whichever way you like:
- create tiny sea glass turtles and transform them into wearable sea glass jewellery
- make medium-sized sea glass turtles and attach magnets for the refrigerator
- craft large sea glass turtles and use them as paperweights
- swap the sea glass for other natural treasures – such as pebbles and create different salt dough turtles
Woohoo. I really enjoy versatile sea glass art that children can genuinely take part in!!!
Don’t overlook our earlier creative projects. We also made a sea glass Christmas Tree Craft (such simple sea-glass ornaments), along with our sea glass art mermaid wall-art project. My kids LOVED both of them! The Sea Glass Christmas Tree is one of our most treasured DIY Christmas Ornaments. The mermaid became a fantastic collage sea glass art project that my daughter loved creating and enjoyed proudly displaying at the end. It is also a wonderful way to highlight this lovely colourful glass!
Anyway. I am getting sidetracked.. let’s move on to our sea glass turtle craft.
Easy Salt Dough Recipe + Sea Glass Supplies:
You will need to prepare a batch of our favourite, tried-and-tested Salt Dough Recipe. The ingredients are wonderfully straightforward and affordable!
- 1 cup of flour (plain flour/ all-purpose flour, NOT self-rising flour, as this will cause puffing)
- 1/2 cup of salt (I purchase table salt in bulk for salt dough projects)
- 1/2 cup of warm water
- green food colouring (optional if you want coloured salt dough)
You will also need…
- sea glass (we chose green sea glass, although brown sea glass works well too)
- some varnish/ sealer and/ or glue (you might need this to hold the sea glass in place once the salt dough craft has dried completely)
- a small piece of wire if creating sea glass jewellery (or you could use it as a salt dough ornament with ribbon attached)
- a baking sheet for drying
- a large bowl/ mixing bowl
Whichever style you choose, these tiny turtles become wonderful salt dough keepsakes that will remind you of your holiday together! Wouldn’t they make charming Christmas gifts too?
Don’t have sea glass?
It is easy to replace the sea glass with other natural finds – including pebbles, sticks, small pine cones or seashells.
Sea Glass Turtle – Video Tutorials
We offer detailed, step-by-step instructions, as well as the ever-popular video tutorial! Be sure to watch the autoplay video for the complete craft!!
How to make sea glass turtle jewellery, fridge magnets or paperweights!
Now for the instructions! As previously mentioned, these salt dough turtles are suitable for children of every age. From toddlers and preschoolers through to older children!
Can you tell from this section’s title that we had trouble choosing what to turn our salt dough turtles into? Ha.. there are so many possibilities! Why not make all three (although the paperweight requires considerably more sea glass.. and we used quite a lot for ourSea Glass Art Mermaid). I adore the tiny size of our little salt dough pendant, but the bigger salt dough turtle offers more room for “small hands” to participate.
Perhaps the best choice depends on your child’s age. However, children of ALL ages are able to create these turtles!
You can create these turtles in two different ways.
- Craft the complete salt dough turtle first, then attach the sea glass
- Begin with the turtle shell – combine salt dough and sea glass before adding the remaining turtle details.
I tested both methods and enjoyed them equally. I really can’t choose a favourite!!!
To make a salt dough turtle:
Creating a salt dough turtle couldn’t be simpler.
Start by rolling a larger ball of salt dough, ensuring there are no cracks. Should it need smoothing, add a small amount of water. Gently press the ball flat, perhaps giving it a slightly oval shape.
Next, form a smaller salt dough ball for the head. Attach the slightly flattened ball to the larger one, then smooth it down with a little water to hold it securely.
Create four little balls for the flippers. You can shape them slightly if you like, although simple “balls” work well for younger children. Attach them to the turtle’s salt dough body and smooth them down with a little water to secure them.
Finish by adding a small salt dough tail.
Smooth the entire turtle. Then use the back of a paintbrush, a pencil tip or a toothpick to make two eyes in its head.
Adding the sea glass to your salt dough turtle:
Collect an assortment of colourful seaglass shapes. Choose the biggest piece and position it in the middle of the salt dough turtle shell. Press it down carefully so the turtle’s shape remains intact.
Arrange the smaller pieces of sea glass in a circle around the centre, gently pressing each one into position as you work.
Fill any spaces with a further layer of smaller sea glass pieces.
A few pieces of sea glass might come loose. Don’t panic. Simply place them back where they belong… they can be glued later.
If making a sea glass jewellery turtle or salt dough ornaments
With a wire hanger, this turtle becomes a lovely pendant or salt dough ornament.
Snip off a short length of craft wire.
Twist it once.
Push it into the turtle’s head – in the spot where the mouth would be.
And remember, we also have some lovely Salt Dough Shell Pendants that are similar to this!
Oven bake the salt dough or let it air dry
Because it was bright and sunny at Red Ted Art HQ, we allowed our salt dough to dry completely in the air. It took only an afternoon in the warm sunshine.
When air-drying isn’t possible, place the salt dough in a low oven at 100-120C or 200-250F for 2-3 hours. If you are uncertain, choose the lower temperature to prevent the dough from puffing up.
Remember to turn your salt dough creations several times so both sides can dry properly!
Seal your salt dough turtle/ varnish the sea glass
After the turtles have dried completely, cover the salt dough with craft varnish, mod podge or even a coating of good white glue/ PVA glue. This helps hold the sea glass in place while giving everything a beautiful shine! If a piece happens to come away, simply glue it back on!
Your sea glass turtle craft is COMPLETE!! Woohoo. I absolutely adore combining sea glass ideas with salt dough crafts! And naturally.. who could resist an adorable turtle craft!
I hope you agree that this is a simple and enjoyable sea glass jewelry project for children. It would also be a wonderful addition to any collection of sea glass craft ideas!
More Sea Glass Inspiration
Explore the rest of our sea glass crafts and projects in this collection – you’ll discover plenty of beautiful sea glass jewellery ideas as well!
I’ve spotted even more salt dough jewellery projects, along with additional salt dough turtles! Well… why not? I’m also fond of the salt dough rain cloud decorations and the DIY toy salt dough bakery too! SOOOOO much fun.
If you try any of our salt dough or sea glass crafts, please share your photos with me on Instagram. Perhaps I can showcase them on my account or on Facebook / Pinterest too!! Woohoo!
A few extra pictures, because I had such a wonderful time making and photographing these!!!!!
I hope you had fun with this simple summer craft!! SO MUCH FUN!