American Girl Homemade Hermit Crabs - for your pet shop, school, bedroom

Hermit Crabs in the Classroom.

Yesterday my Daughter said "You know mom, what would really be cool, would be a tank of Hermit Crabs in our classroom" (we have them at home and have for a few years.)

For those of you who aren't familiar, we are American Girl Doll crazy here. We have a big AG Dollhouse and lots of DIY and other furniture and accessories.

Her request was not unusual, but was something that I hadn't thought of, or seen on the many boards I am a part of (since then I have searched and seen a couple of ideas that are similar with crabs that have googley eyes on their shells and pipe cleaners for legs.)

Of course my mind pondered a bit. This morning I was thinking "I should google for some miniature hermit crab figurines" and then suddenly, it HIT me. I don't have to SEE the hermit crabs in the shells, because we almost NEVER see ours. They are ALWAYS buried.

So I rushed into my daughter's room and said "I HAVE AN IDEA!" and she looked at me like I had lost my mind. I said "get the suitcase of seashells!

So we picked out some tiny shells that would be to scale for the AG Dolls. We painted two of them and left one plain. We took a cheap glass bowl (actually a tealight holder) that I had bought at Michaels or Joann's a while back- with intention of doing a fish tank- and added aquarium rocks. We added a flat black stone like the one in our crabby tank at home, and a sprig of fake greens and a driftwood looking stick piece. We added the painted shells and the plain shell and put it in the school room. She was SOOOO excited! I love that she could see the process through with me from Idea to fruition. So much FUN!

If you decide to make a Hermit Crab tank for your dolls, share your pics with us! I'd also like to invite you doll addicts to join the MUCH fun "My Dolls House" group on Facebook, where we toss around ideas for crafts and other things for 18" dolls. You have to request to join and wait to be approved by the admin team, but it's WELL Worth your time!