Sea Shell Stepping Stone by; Nicole Lumpkin
Trips to the beach provide lots of fun activities that are perfect for kids of all ages. Young children love to collect sea shells; they come in all sizes, colors and shapes and are wonderful to explore. 
Once your beach trip is done, don’t just toss those shells into a bag and forget them. Here is an excellent opportunity to explore your seaside treasures and make a wonderful beach trip memory stone.
Help your child sort through the shells. You can sort them in a variety of ways: by color, by shape, or by shell type. Sorting is an important math skill that can start simple with one characteristic (i.e. shape) and increase in difficulty by adding more characteristics (i.e. shape, size, color). This is a skill children will use in a variety of ways in their academic experiences.
Buy an inexpensive stepping stone kit available at any craft store. Pick out a variety of shells in different sizes and place in the stepping stone wet concrete. Sprinkle sand from the beach on top of the stone and allow to dry for 24 hours.
The next day you will have a unique stepping stone that reminds you and your child of a wonderful beach adventure!
