Beach Collections

I love collecting pretty shells, rocks and other items washed up on the beach.  My grandson is a magpie collector like me but after a while all the beach treasures get misplaced or become clutter.  I decided to teach my grandson how to make Plaster of Paris paperweights to keep his beach treasures together.  At the beach we gathered some sand (about 1/2 cup) in a paper cup and whatever shells, rocks, beach glass,  etc. we wanted to save. Once we got back to the house we placed a layer of sand in each cup and pressed the beach goodies on top making sure that the pretty side was faced down in the sand. The Plaster of Paris (from a hardware store) was mixed up according to the directions on the box. This mixture was poured over the items in each cup and allowed to harden overnight. Once the plaster was hard the paper cups were torn and the beautiful beach collections revealed. Names and the date were written on the bottom of each beach treasure paper weight.  My grandson's piece turned out the best because he put lots of collected beach memories in his cup.  We all had a good time admiring each others crafty skills and now have a permanent memory of our special time together at the beach.