Drawing Seashells with Watercolor Pencils

It’s beach season and we love to collect seashells. Here is a fun way to get kids drawing and painting using seashells as inspiration. It would make a great art project for a summer journal, too. We like watercolor pencils but you may choose a different medium. If you need an additional play idea for all those extra summer seashells, use them to make an ocean in a bottle.

First set up the materials. I like to arrange things ahead of time. It’s more enticing for my son. It’s easier to inspire him that way.

I set up paper, watercolor pencils (affiliate link) and some of our recent seashell finds, plus I included a book of seashells (see end of post for some book suggestions) I found at the library.

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I showed Kiddo how to trace the shell. I discussed observation of the shell pattern and demonstrated replicating that pattern on the outline (you can tell which are mine in the photo above).

I really love to incorporate watercolor pencils into our drawing afternoons. They are a nice change of pace and kids love to see how their drawings transform with a few brush strokes.

I gave him the water and a brush after he finished drawing. I knew it would be too much a distraction, otherwise. When he applied the water with a brush he basically just made a mush of the colors (see photo below, right). Some further instructions could be useful here, or you may decide to use a different medium. It’s all about the process anyway. It certainly doesn’t bother me that his seashells look like blobs!