This is the coral reef the kids and I made a few weeks ago. The coral is made from salt dough, which we shaped (check out the brain coral I made. It’s the one that, funnily enough, looks like a brain), dried and painted. Then we set about creating inhabitants for our reef.  The cupcake liners are giant clams; the egg cartons with bits of ribbon around the top are sea anemones; the cotton balls with pipe cleaners sticking out of them are sea urchins; the smiley-faced skinny ovals are fish and those vaguely star-shaped objects on the left are indeed, starfish. Oh, and the cut-up pink sponges pieces are *gasp!* sponges.

It certainly turned out to be a very colorful and crowded project!