Seasoned Grandma Tip #9: A World of Discovery in Sea Glass ~
Mix a shoreline with sea glass and shells and sunshine and grandkids, and you’ve got some magical discovery on your grandparent hands!
On a happy walk to our local harbor recently with two of our grandsons, Benjamin (10) and Henry (8), Pop-up and I filled our pockets with their sea glass magic and then a large glass vase to the brim with their discoveries of the sea…
The biggest prizes of the day were the sea glass bottle tops and clam-shut clams!
Ben and Henry are very interested in things from the sea and always have lots of questions about sea glass, which is not a natural sea product, but rather bottles, jars and other man-made glass products that have been carelessly *littered or tossed into the sea by mankind.
These glass products break into pieces with the pounding sea and surf, over time becoming smooth, lovely, multi-shaped, multi-sized, multi-colored and intriguing gem-like shapes, sea glass, that invariably catch the eyes and imaginations of kids.
Of course, as adults, we must make sure that the glass gems are worn smooth on all sides and edges before collecting them. THEN we collect. THEN we put our lovely discoveries to very interesting use.
We love to use the in-tact sea glass bottle tops as stability holders for flowers in small, kid-sized vases (the boys picked lilacs from our garden and rescued a tiny branch of pear blossoms from the ground). This prevents tipping of the flowers while creating a lovely underwater focal point, too…
Ben and Henry love a very old little jar of marbles that Pop-up has had since he was a child, and thought one of the bottle top sea glass gems looked perfect in the mix. THIS is what I love so very much about kids and discovery — they always see such beauty and blending in the simplest of things!
The other sea glass bottle top found a place in a juice glass, securing the little pear tree branch in a lovely, simple way…
As grandparents, Pop-up and I know that while some sea glass may take 5, 10, 30, 50 years to become a gem, a child’s imagination is a true gem of discovery from the very, very beginning.
Sometime a little sunshine, shoreline, shells and sea glass are all we need to polish these priceless gems!
*Pop-up and I DO address the negatives of littering
This is so me! We live less than 5 minutes from the beach and go all the time, but I can’t go without bringing home treasures especially seaglass. It’s my favorite!!