This is such a fun summer activity that becomes a useful behavior tool for weeks to come! Cheap, easy, fun, AND useful?? Yes please!!
My girls are four and six, both enjoyed making these very much!
I've seen similar projects done with plastic bottles or smaller containers based on the age of the child. Choose what you're comfortable with!
The point is to make something beautiful to look at with particles that float slowly through the liquid inside. When you shake them and set them down you can watch everything as it settles to the bottom. The effect is something like watching snow or leaves fall to the ground. It seems to calm adults and children!
We made ours 2 weeks ago and today my girls were fighting and I decided to hand them their jars out of sheer desperation!
They both went, "oooooh" and got quiet. Then they started discussing which pieces were falling faster or how sparkly the glitter was. I was shocked how effective it was even after the newness had worn off!!
There are so many different ways to make these but here's how we did it:
-A clean, clear Mason jar (it's just what I had on hand. You can use a Voss bottle with the label removed or any clear bottle/jar)
-hot water (just as hot as the tap goes is fine)
-2 full squirt bottles of glitter glue (we used dollar tree brand. I found that gold or silver leaves good visibility for other things inside. The pink made the water a little cloudy.)
-a variety of sequins, small beads, and one larger charm or button for them to try to spot! (We also topped ours with tiny foam balls but those just sit on top and don't do much)
-a dash of vegetable glycerin if you want a slower moving liquid
I had them add all of the ingredients to the jar then I put the hot water inside until it was about an inch from the top. Then I put the lids on top very tightly and we SHOOK them like crazy!! Once everything is well combined and you're happy with the speed of the falling pieces you can either glue or tape the lids on if you'd like.
They spent a long time shaking and swirling their "mermaid" jars and seeing what "treasure" they could see inside the sparkly storm!
I let them decorate the lids with stickers too!
It was also a fun experiment to leave them still overnight and see what they looked like in the morning! Our liquid was super thick so the tiny glitter took a long time to fully settle.
I hope this keeps your little ones busy for at least a little while and maybe helps calm a frustrated kid at some point!
Have FUN!
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