These mini beach mud houses are placed in fish bowls with sand and seashells to create a beach vacation in your own home!
Why we love this project
In the heat of summer, these mini coastal clay houses displayed inside glass bowls make the perfect addition to our collection of beach-themed crafts and terrariums.
I mean, how adorable are these coastal themed homes? There are many ways you can use it around the house. Place them inside the shadowbox with sand and shells like we set up ours Christmas Village Shadowbox Or display them on their own on a bookshelf. They would also look lovely in flowerpots or fairy gardens!
Useful project information:
- Age Level: 12 and up
- Mess Factor: Medium (paint)
- Difficulty Level: Medium
- Completion Time: Less than 2 hours active. 24-hour drying time for soil.
- Estimated Cost: Less than $20.00 depending on what supplies you have
Craft supplies you will need
All the paint colors used in this craft are DecoArt Americana® Acrylics. This acrylic paint comes in a wide range of color options so feel free to mix and match the colors to your liking! It’s our favorite paint to use for all of our projects, because it works amazing on almost every surface.
The DecoArt Americana acrylic paints we used
- Desert Turquoise
- Cadmium Yellow
- Spiced Pumpkin
- Foliage green
- Mistletoe (green)
- Steel gray
- Snow(titanium) white
- Espresso
Find the complete list of supplies and directions in the printable version at the end of this post.
How to make a mini coastal clay house
Here are step by step photos and instructions to help you visualize how to build this project. Please scroll down to print the instructions!
- Remove about half Air dry soil From the package, enough to make 4-5 houses. Knead briefly to soften. Break up small, workable amounts of soil. Form into a ball and then roll to ¼” thickness.
- With straight edge tools or Pottery toolsCut out the shape of the house using Pattern Guide to help. Make the houses as big or small as you like – these were about 2-3 inches in size.
- Add doors and windows to houses and decorations such as scallops, hatch marks and shiplap.
- Smooth edges (wetting with a little water will help). Allow to dry completely.
- Cut one end of it Popsicle stick To make a picket for a fence. Cut the other end about 3″ long. Cut into 6 equal-sized pieces. If necessary, sand the cut ends.
- Line up the cut pickets in a row to resemble a fence. Glue another popsicle stick to hold it together and then add another popsicle stick near the top. Trim the popsicle sticks to the length of the fence.
- Cut the ends of two popsicle sticks on the diagonal. Glue these pieces to another popsicle stick to make a sign.
- Paint the surface of all the mud houses in white acrylic paint. Let dry and repeat on the other side. refer to Printable Project Guide Beach, for how to paint houses in coastal colors.
Expert tip: Blend paint with white to create different shades of color.
- Use a Sharpie or fine tip marker to add details to painted houses, such as writing on windows and signs.
- to pour Natural sand in fish bowl And simple so it is level. Place the houses inside the bowl, layering them inside with the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front.
- Add a fence, a sign and some seashells. Keep rearranging the pieces until you are happy with the placement.
Expert crafting tips
- You can make your mud houses longer than we did here to help them stick more in the sand.
- Mix and match colors or combine two colors to create your own.
- The palm tree pictured above is also made of clay. Wrap the clay around a styrofoam ball to make leaves. Make a base for the tree out of clay too and paint it. You can even make a beach ball or umbrella to add!
These mud houses will look amazing painted in colors to match Halloween or Christmas, create a large set of mud houses to paint and display however you want!
More coastal crafts and projects
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Mini coastal mud houses
Get creative with these adorable mini coastal mud houses. Display them in a shadowbox, fish bowl, mason jar or on their own on a shelf.
supplies
DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint Colors
- Desert Turquoise
- Cadmium Yellow
- Spiced Pumpkin
- Foliage green
- Mistletoe (green)
- Steel gray
- Snow (titanium) white
- Espresso
Instructions
-
Remove about half of the soil from the package, enough to make 4-5 houses.
-
Knead briefly to soften. Break up small, workable amounts of soil. Form into a ball and then roll to ¼” thickness.
-
With straight edge tools, cut out the house shape using the pattern guide to help. Make the houses as big or small as you like – these were about 2-3 inches in size.
-
Add doors and windows to houses and decorations such as scallops, hatch marks and shiplap.
-
Smooth edges (wetting with a little water will help). Allow to dry completely, about 24 hours.
-
Cut one end of a popsicle stick to make a picket for the fence. Cut the other end about 3″ long. Cut into 6 equal-sized pieces. If necessary, sand the cut ends.
-
Line up the cut pickets in a row to resemble a fence. Glue another popsicle stick to hold it together and then add another popsicle stick near the top. Trim the popsicle sticks to the length of the fence.
-
Cut the ends of two popsicle sticks on the diagonal. Glue these pieces to another popsicle stick to make a sign.
-
Paint the surface of all the mud houses in white acrylic paint. Let dry and repeat on the other side. Refer to the printable project guide for how to paint houses in beachy, coastal colors.
-
Blend the paint with white to create different shades of color.
-
Use a Sharpie or fine tip marker to add details to painted houses, such as writing on windows and signs.
-
Pour the sand into the fish bowl and smooth it so that it is level. Place the houses inside the bowl, layering them inside with the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front.
-
Add a fence, a sign, a palm tree and some seashells. Keep rearranging the pieces until you are happy with the placement.
Expert tips and FAQs
- You can make the palm tree pictured in the post by wrapping clay around a styrofoam ball as a “leaf”. Create a log out of clay to use as a base for the tree. Color the leaves of the palm tree green and the trunk of the tree brown. Let dry and then glue the pieces together.
This post originally appeared here on July 5, 2021.
