Chasing Cheerios

Friday, February 3, 2012

DIY Rainbow Solar Night Lights





If you've looked at Pinterest in the last few months, then you've probably seen the solar night light jars made out of outdoor solar lights.  When I saw the lights a few months ago, I decided to make a few for my girls and my niece for Christmas.  However, I wanted to put a different spin on it...I wanted it to be a rainbow light that continually changed colors.

This was our last handmade gift to make, and we didn't finish the lights until after 1am on Christmas morning.  I didn't type the "pet light" story for the girls until Christmas afternoon about 3 minutes before we gave the lights to them. The story told the girls that they must take care of the lights and put them in the sun each day since the sun provides them with energy to glow all night long.  The girls named their lights "Zoey" and "Bella," and these are the coolest night lights I've EVER seen (and, of course, I'm not biased at all)!

Here's what we did...I bought 3 jars (from Hobby Lobby for about 4 dollars each).  I spray painted the inside of the jars with  about 4 coats of frost spray paint (about 8 dollars a can from Hobby Lobby).  I left the top clear so that the solar panel would receive enough sunlight.  Elliott dismantled the rainbow solar lights (these are impossible to find, but luckily my sister had a set of 3 in her closet).  The dismantling was more difficult than we anticipated since the wires were threaded through a metal tube that was about a foot long.  He had to remove the wires, cut, and splice them together again.  Then he glued the light on top of the solar panel.  He put the whole thing in the bottom of the jar, but we decided not to glue it down so that we could get to the on/off switch if we needed to.

Here are more pics Bella and Zoey.

















Here's a video so you can see how the colors change.


4 comments:

  1. So pretty! Those look like a lot of fun. I might have to try that this week. :)

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  3. These are gorgeous!! need to make mkyself some of these

    Natasha

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  4. Hi,
    I wonder if your readers would like to get to know the Montessori way of teaching a bit better. If so I invite them to enter the giveaway I'm hosting right now!!! One lucky reader will win a FREE ON-LINE MONTESSORI TRAINING PROGRAM +12 MONTESSORI ALBUMS!!. The training program is run by Karen Tyler ;-)
    Here is a link to the giveaway:
    http://wczesnaedukacjaantkaikuby.blogspot.com/2012/02/win-karen-tylers-montessori-training.html

    Blessings for you and your family
    Ewa

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