Calm Down Jars

So these glitter jars originally started out as meditation tools for children. Then Moms got the bright idea to use them as calming jars for children who get unruly during time-outs. The child shakes the bottle up and depending on the glue to water ratio can "time" the time-out with the settling of the glitter. The kid has something to distract them during punishment and hopefully will result in a calmed down child by the time their punishment is over.

Well since I have a rather easygoing child, I thought this would be a good quiet time activity instead. Every night around 8:00 my child gets crazy! Running, jumping, dancing, singing.... anything that is loud and anything but winding down at the end of the day. Of course this is right at the time that we start getting her ready for bed. So I made a small version of a calming jar (easier for Lana to handle) and gave it to her. She promptly thought that this would be a great toy to shake up, place on the floor and dance around. Not quite what I was going for...

We are still keeping this jar around and I'm attempting to coordinate it into a night-time activity. Maybe if I tried a glow-in-the-dark version for in bed? Anyways here is the formula for making it....

Calm Down Jars

One plastic bottle (size depending on age of child)

One container of super-fine glitter

Glitter glue (small)

Superglue

Fill bottle three-quarters full of water. Add superfine glitter and about one tablespoon of glitter glue. Shake bottle. Add more water to have glitter separate faster; add more glitter glue if you want the glitter to separate slower. Add enough glue/water to fill bottle completely. Superglue lid to bottle.