After seeing glitter jars all over Pinterest for the past few weeks, I decided to make one of our own. (Most of the jars are called "time-out jars" or "calm down jars") I knew I didn't want ours to be a time-out jar because I didn't want any punitive connotations, so when O requested blue food coloring and blue glitter, I decided that we'd call it our "Starry Night Jar" (since we love Van Gogh's Starry Night painting).
To make the jar, we filled it with warm water. We added blue glitter and blue glitter glue. The glue creates a swirling effect when you shake the jar, and I added a little extra clear glue (school glue, but it's clear,not white) to make it swirl a little longer. I didn't measure anything...just eyeballed it.
Once when E(2) was extremely tired and fussy, I sat with her on the kitchen floor and grabbed the jar and shook it. We both stared at it and talked about how the glitter (stars) was slowly drifting to the bottom. I was happily amazed when she immediately calmed down and stared at the jar for a minute or so. I'm planning to put together a peace basket, and this will be an important component of it.
There's a great kids book called Moody Cow Meditates which is about learning to deal with anger and emotions using one of these jars. We love it, and made jars for everyone in the family. HIghly recommend the book!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recommend on the book!
DeleteI love the idea of a calming jar rather than time out, I will suggest this to my mom for my nephew, I think it will suit him well.
ReplyDeletewe have one and we call it our fairy jar :)
ReplyDeletewe love starry night also :)
what is a peace basket? I would love to hear about yours. My mom has alzheimers and I am going to make her one of these..she will absolutely love it.
ReplyDeleteI have never considered time out as a punitive thing. Time out is where we step aside, calm ourselves, take deep breaths, recover our calm and suit up again to go back out and meet the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool and beautiful idea! Starry Night is my absolute favorite work of art!
ReplyDeleteHow old is your little one? I love this idea and think my girls would adore it but they are only 2.5 yrs old and I fear they'd be as interested in getting the lid off as they would be of watching the glitter swirl around. Seeing one of them has mastered the child proof lid on the nail polish remover I don't much fancy risking glitter and food colouring everywhere. Any suggestions on childproofing the jar!
ReplyDeleteYou could glue the lid on it.
DeleteI would love to know what you put in the peace basket
ReplyDeleteThe jar could be hot glued closed so there would be no risk of little ones opening the lid. :)
ReplyDeleteCaulk the lid on, and use a plastic jar. I super glued the lid on a peanut butter jar to make ours and my boys got it open. That made it the exact opposite of a Calm Down Jar! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I have a son would take the lid off too. and plastic to aid in not breaking if it was dropped. Good tip.
DeleteAll my glitter clumped at the top of the jar. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteRita- Maybe your water wasn't warm enough for the glue in the glitter glue to dissolve, so maybe add some almost hot water and shake it up.
ReplyDeleteI just made this today! I used the same colors and am calling ours a Starry Night bottle too because I just loved your idea so much! :-) Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeletehttp://hollysartcorner.blogspot.com
I have made these jars but instead of using a canning jar, I used a clear plastic pop or water bottle. I hot glue the top on and it becomes safe for any age.
ReplyDeleteglue the lid shut with tacky glue or that 9000 stuff or even super glue or a hot glue gun :) mines 3 and does the same thing.
ReplyDeleteif you point a flashlight at the bottle(in a dark room) you can watch little "fireflies" dance along the walls and ceiling!
ReplyDeleteWe just made green, purple, blue & pink ones with our four kiddos. They love them & can't wait til I get the lids glued on! Actually, they've already played responsibly with them, but I want to glue them just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the new name...love the starry night bottle rather than time out or even calm down! I think we'll let the kiddos each give theirs a name...
ReplyDeleteI just want to mention that these are useful for ANYONE who wants to calm down & meditate, even if only for a moment or two. I'm 20 & love watching my sparkling jar! =]
ReplyDeleteI am one of those who need exact measurements! Any suggestions? I love this idea!
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea if something like this would last from year to year? I'm wondering about making Christmas ornaments and sealing the top on????
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me about how long it takes the glitter to settle down to the bottom?
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