A while ago, I found some real shark teeth that I had collected years ago in Venice Beach, Florida. I had the not-so-bright idea of suggesting we use them to make a shark craft. The boys were all over it, so the next day we made salt dough, formed it into two sharks and poked in some teeth.
After baking the sharks, the boys painted them and added eyes.
Ben picked out the colors black and white himself, and they randomly stumbled on the fact that mixing those two colors produced gray paint. Two happier boys could not be found…these kids were pumped about the realistic-looking shark skin.
Ben’s shark mouth was mostly gums, as he had stuck in the teeth backwards.
Luke’s shark, on the other hand, had a mean mouth of teeth. A perfect riding mount for a knight.
This was a horrible craft idea. The boys loved their sharks and have played with them consistently for over a month, even packing their sharks to take on overnight trips. However, Benjamin’s shark has lost some teeth, and Luke’s shark has “bit” me several times. There’s nothing worse than happily washing dishes and being ambushed by a rabid shark attack.
We haven’t been crafting as much lately because the weather has been nice, but yesterday both boys came down with colds. With extra, unexpected inside time, Ben wanted to make a craft.
Sticking with the ocean theme, we made simple jellyfish. The boys colored semi-circles, added eyes and glued on strips of wax paper to the back.
This was a great craft. I was attacked by jellyfish and did not have any true moments of panic as the tentacles brushed my legs. Ben made several of them and ran around the house with his jellyfish until his fever wore him out and he retired to the couch.
The jellyfish craft was simple and quick. The shark craft was fun because it took several days for the kids to complete in stages, but the teeth render them slightly dangerous to play with. (They are still playing with the sharks; I don’t have the heart to chuck them just yet).
Good craft: construction paper jellyfish with wax paper tentacles and googly eyes.
Bad craft: painted salt dough sharks with real shark teeth.
Settling In 
Is this the Venice beach near Sarasota?
Yes, about 40 minutes south of Sarasota! People used to be able to get buckets of sharks teeth there, but now I think it’s a lot harder to find shark teeth as a lot of people combed the beach for them. My parents went there a few years ago & said you had to travel further south to a different beach to get more shark teeth.