"Calm" Jar

This week I decided to try a craft that I've heard other friends have done and enjoyed. We all saw it on Pinterest and thought it sounded like a great idea. The idea is this: make a jar full of glitter and, when your child goes on time-out, shake the jar up and have them watch the glitter settle to the bottom. Once it's all settled, the time out is over and, ideally, watching the glitter will have helped your child calm down and relax. Kaylie's been particularly difficult during time-outs lately (wanting to talk to us the whole time or crying at ridiculous volumes) so this really appealed to me.

What You Need:

*Jar (plastic is recommended)

*Fine glitter

*Glitter glue

*Hot water

Fill the jar with the hot water and add 1TB of glitter glue for every cup of water you add. Pour in the glue, put the lid back on, and shake well. If you want to make it more fancy, allow your child to decorate the outside of the jar with stickers.

Tips:

If you want the jar to be used as your method for timing time-outs, I would recommend using a larger jar. If you just want to use it as a calming method during time-outs, it doesn't matter what size jar you use. (I decided to use it during time-outs, but not as the timer because if I did that her time-outs would be less than a minute long. Something I'm sure she would be fine with, but wouldn't really be much of a consequence.) Do not do what I did and let your child decorate the outside with glitter glue. It was a huge mess and, even though she enjoyed it, it ended up looking awful and being wet and sticky. We started out with a smaller jar, moved to a bigger container and, after Kaylie mucked it all up with glitter glue, we went back to the smaller jar and just used stickers.

<--Big Jar Small Jar-->

The Verdict:

I really didn't enjoy doing this craft. I think I probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd just stuck with the original jar I'd chosen and not let Kaylie decorate with the glitter glue in the first place. It was just such a mess and started to stress me out. However, even though this wasn't my favorite craft, Kaylie had a really good time doing it. She loved to pour the glitter and play with the glue, and she had just as much fun decorating with stickers as she did with the glue. So I think that what I'd say is this: if you don't over-complicate it like I did, it's a fun and fairly simple craft, and your child will probably enjoyed it. Not the most fun for the parent necessarily, but I always love to see Kaylie having fun, so that was a plus. We'll see what happens the first time we use it during a time-out.

Update: I gave it to her during a time-out this morning while she was flipping out and it calmed her down immediately. I think I'm going to change it so that it only has one color in it so that she can see the glitter better, but it seems to be doing it's job already.

P.S. In case you're wondering, yes. It's always more fun doing crafts in a princess dress. :)

Ziploc Bag Finger Painting

Confession: Today I did one of my first at-home crafts with the kids. I just haven't ever been much of a crafty person. I don't know whether it's because I don't enjoy it, don't have the talent for it, or can't ever come up with any good ideas. Lately, however, I've been scrolling through Pinterest a lot and discovered that there are so many fun and creative ideas that even I could do. So while the kids were napping I got everything ready for my first easy, mess-free craft:

Ziploc Bag Fingerpainting!

It really couldn't be simpler.

What you need:

*Gallon-size ziploc bags (I did a sandwich-sized one for Drew)

*Paint (I would imagine that any kind would do, but I used tempura)

*Strong tape (I used duct tape since I already had it)

Kaylie loved it! It kept her occupied for quite awhile and she was so proud of how it turned out.

Since Drew is still learning to stand on his own and seemed to be getting tired painting on the window after awhile, I taped it to his highchair tray and he seemed to enjoy that, too. This would probably even be a really great craft to take to a restaurant to keep them busy.

Tips:

You really don't need all that much paint in the bags. I would say that one or two small squirts would do. If you put too much in there it's just goopy and hard to maneuver. It also seems to work best is there if as little air in the bag as possible. And lastly, I would definitely recommend taping the bottom corners of the baggies down as well as the top. Before I did that Kaylie was getting frustrated because the bag was moving too much.

The Verdict:

I would highly recommend this craft for sure. It was so easy and not even the tiniest bit messy and the kids really enjoyed it. And it actually inspired me a little bit. I don't expect to become an expert "crafter", but I really would like to do more things like this with the kids. Thus the creation of this blog. My goal is to try one new craft a week with the kids (and maybe the occasional project for me). It will almost always be something simple, and hopefully will always be something fun. Then I'll post craft instructions, pictures/videos, and the verdict on the craft on this blog to share with all my other mommy friends. After all, the best way to find fun new things to do with your kids is through other moms. And I can assure you that if I'm recommending it, anyone can do it!