Hello hello! My name is Carly and I write a bunch of silly things over at Zauberbear with my magical living stuffed bear, Silkworm. Thanks to Mary, we got to pop in at Uncustomary Art to write silly things here, too!
With the weather warming up lately, Silkworm and I decided now would be an excellent time for a Mission of Magic we’ve been planning to do for a while. We got the idea from a link on Pinterest that brought us to Kleas, where an adorable tutorial taught us how to make shell crabs. Instantaneously, we knew exactly what we would do with ours once we had the materials to bring them to life, and upon finally gathering everything we needed, our Mission of Magic officially commenced!

We painted–impatiently waiting during the in-between moments while the paint dried–and glued–almost melting the craft table with our hot glue gun once or twice–until we had four shell crabs staring up at us (tutorial to follow). Our initial idea was to artlessly scatter them around at our local beach, but upon dubbing them “Kindness Crabs,” a spark of inspiration ended up turning the once simple project into something much bigger. Thus, we tied little notes to their front legs that read:
“Hi! I’m a Kindness Crab! I love
a good adventure. If you
promise to take me to a
different beach and leave me
there for someone else to find,
you can scoop me up and bring
me home with you!
(Leave this tag on or tie on
another one with the same
information before leaving me
on the next beach, please!)”

On the back of the tag, we also noted to make sure the crabs stay out of the ocean so as not to pollute it, and we included a hash tag for any Instagram-ers who happen to find and transport a crab, which we’re going to track to see if anyone uses it. (You’re more than welcome to use it yourself if you make any Kindness Crabs and want to show them off!)

While daydreaming about seeing them someday at other beaches later this spring, we took them to the tiny beach nearby where we often see families and little kids playing. There’s also a playground right before the sand starts, so we decided to hide three crabs on the playground and one on the railing of the entrance to the beach. Since it was a bit windy out, we used their pipe cleaner legs to latch them onto things like poles and chain-links on swings.

Silkworm and I delighted at the whimsical sight of our crabs waiting to be discovered. I can’t even imagine how we’d react to seeing them again on another beach, confirming a successful mission. We’re going to make more Kindness Crabs soon and take them to other beaches in hopes of giving our mission a better chance, because what we wouldn’t give to see it become a well-known thing. Perhaps you’d like to join us and spread the mission to your neighborhood!
The tutorial below is per crab. Follow the whole tutorial several times and you’ll have yourself an army of Kindness Crabs before you know it!
Ingredients
1 scallop, cockle, or clam shell
2 small conch shells
2 googly eyes
1 (red) pipe cleaner
(Red) yarn
(Red) paint
Paintbrush
Hot glue
(Red) felt (optional)
Step One: Paint your scallop/cockle/clam shell and conch shells red, or whatever other color you want your crab to be. The brighter the color, the more it will stand out and catch somebody’s attention.
Step Two: Fold a pipe cleaner in half and twist it together. Cut it in half to make two arms.
Step Three: Glue a conch shell at the end of each arm. The best way to do this is to fold the tips of both legs at a 90 degree angle, put glue on the tips, and then tuck them into the holes of the conch shells.
Step Four: Glue the opposite ends of the arms to the inside of your scallop/cockle/clam shell, making sure the conch shells come out at the front (opposite where the joint of the shell once was). To secure them even further, you might like to glue a rectangle of felt over them.
Step Five: Cut eight one-inch pieces of yarn for the back legs. Glue four in a row to each side of your scallop/cockle/clam shell behind the pipe cleaner legs.
Step Six: Glue on googly eyes.
Silkworm and I keep dreaming of the possibilities of this project, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make those wild dreams come true. Remember the Instagram tag, #kindnesscrabs, to let us know if you help us out, or you can always email us photos or stories!

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Hope you have a marvelous day!