Sand dollar Craft to Decorate a Container
by Karen & Grace Morris
Need some ocean currency? This sand dollar craft won’t buy you much, but it would be great for decorating your containers. You could use a container to hold your dollar bills.
We used ours to store our craft supplies. One of the things we stored was pony beads!
you will need:
- Small plastic lid
- White paper
- Glue
- Scraps of white craft foam
How to Make a Sand Dollar Craft
On white paper draw a circle that will fit on the outside of your lid.
Cut the circle out.
Then glue the paper to the lid.
Cut out five tear shaped pieces of craft foam.
(No, the sand dollar is not crying.)
Arrange the pieces of craft foam so that it looks like a star or flower.
Glue the pieces onto the lid.
Now your sand dollar craft is ready to hold your important stuff.
Facts about Sand Dollars
Live sand dollars are covered with velvety spines. The spines can be green, blue, or purple. The coloring depends on the species. The spines help the sand dollar to move.
When sand dollars die, they change to a white or gray color. When you are looking for shells only collect the dead ones.
You can find the creatures in the tropics and in more temperate zones.
They are sea urchins the name come from the fact that the dead ones on the beach resembled a large silver coin. Other names include sea cookie, sea biscuit and pansy shells.
They like to live in sandy or muddy areas in shallow water.
If you find a dead sand dollar you can shake it and it will rattle. The thing that is rattling is the five pieces of the mouth. The mouth is sometimes called Aristotle's lantern. It is called Aristotle’s lantern because the Greek scientist said that the mouth resembled a horn lantern. The lantern had five sides.
Some people say that the sand dollar is the currency of mermaids.
There is even a poem used by Christians called the Legend of the Sand Dollar.
Look closely and you will find the things in the poem. The sand dollars holes are the nail holes and the hole made with the spear. To find the Easter lily, see the design on the top. On its underside you will see the Poinsettia. Break it open and you will find the five doves.
Make two different designs with your sand dollars and play a game of tic-tic-toe with a buddy. Or come up with other games to play. Another idea is to use less or more tears on the design to make different dollar amounts. This would be a cool idea to teach your kids about money for math.
