DIY Calming Jars

In the United States today we have more and more children with ADHD, Autism, ODD and a whole host of other mental health issues and diagnosis.  We do our best to teach them from an early age techniques to calm down and learn to control their actions in at least certain situations.

As you can see the kids absolutely loved making these – yes they helped.

Items needed are flexible:

Bottle(s) – I use Voss bottles – they have a nice cap that covers the opening and it is a straight sided bottle.  But you can use whatever you’d like.  In fact I have used LifeWater bottles also in the past.  Any bottle with any shape you like…  Don’t buy a bottle – just use beverage bottles.  Make sure they are plastic and not glass.  Voss bottles come in three sizes – these are the small 11.7 ounce size.

Mineral water – you can use just about any liquid but mineral water works well and helps to keep the contents moving.

Glitter – large glitter, fine glitter etc…  Different colors and different sizes

Food coloring

Little trinkets – whatever can fit through the bottle opening

We used different funnels to help the kids fill their bottles.  We started with the glitter then any trinkets.  Filled the bottles to within one quarter inch from the top or so.

At that point we add food coloring if we want.  It is really important that the cap get glued on with bondic.

Screw the cap on and shake.  You may need to shake vigorously the first couple times to get all the glitter and food coloring to mix.

You may choose to not even use glitter – just trinkets and clear mineral water.  The kids really like tons of glitter though!