The Calm Down Glitter Jar

So I am not going to lie, my firstborn is kind of an emotional roller coaster.

One second he is frolicking around the house singing worship songs, the next second he is flat out on the ground weeping that I forgot to call him by the name of his alter ego.

Or he’s flipping out because he can’t get his arms through the shirt holes.

Or he found out that I am serving strawberries with his beloved Saturday morning pancakes and now the. whole. day. is. ruined.

I’ve seen this idea around so many blogs and thought we would give it a try.

The idea is to make this Calm Down Glitter Jar, shake it up, and hand it to your Happy Buddy when he is ~~having a meltdown~~ feeling emotionally troubled.

You want to get your Happy Buddies so distracted by looking at all the pretty, swirling glitter that they forget what they were fussing about.

Genius, right?

I mean, glitter therapy?! Yes, please.

Here is how to make one…

Supplies:

Clear jar (I used an old jar that used to have mushrooms in it)

CLEAR Elmer’s Glue (it is SO important that you buy the clear stuff and not the white stuff or else it will be milky. Also, I hear the Elmer’s glitter glue works absolutely beautiful.)

HOT water (this helps the glue melt)

Ultra fine glitter (the finer the better – mine came from a Michael’s Arts and Crafts store)

You will also need a little hot glue (not pictured here because my glue gun looks like someone ran over it with a bulldozer and then threw some mud on it).

Step 1 – Fill your jar with HOT water and then pour some glue into the water.

I probably used about 1/4 of the bottle of glue. The more glue you put it in, the slower the glitter will move.

Step 2 – Pour the glitter in and mix it around (I mixed mine using one of our table knives). I literally dumped almost the entire vial of glitter into my jar.

You seriously can’t go wrong on this step.

Add more glue if you want. You kind of just need to play with it until you see the glitter moving the way you want it to. If you pour in too much glue, then your Happy Buddy will be waiting and staring at the jar for an unbelievably long time.

Mine settles after about 5 minutes.

Step 3 – Hot glue the lid to the jar so that you don’t have any accidents.

Speaking of accidents, if you are using a glass jar, may I suggest not thrusting it into the hands of a child who is so angry he just might hurl the thing across the room.

🙂

The idea is to quietly embrace an emotional little friend and engage them with the jar before leaving them alone to calm down (hopefully entranced and not irrational).

That’s it!

Pretty cool, huh?

And I will let you in on a little secret – It works great on stressed out Happy Hubbies, too. 😉

Happy Calm Down Glitter Jar-ing!

Sharing is caring!

About Happy Home Fairy

Julie Brasington is a Preschool Director, wife of a South Florida Worship Pastor and mom of 3 boys. She writes at Happy Home Fairy where you can find easy craft ideas, FREE printables, simple recipes, holiday fun, thoughts on raising kids, and encouragement for moms.