glitter spy jar

This idea started out as a "mind jar"...perhaps you've seen them on Pinterest here, here, and here...and while I like the idea of a meditation jar (it's meant to help a child calm her/himself as the glitter falls) I thought it might be fun to make it into more of a game. Our challenge this summer is more about competing with video games and television for entertainment.

So I combined the idea of the glitter jar with the game "ispy"!

Alfredo was involved in every part of making this project...and enjoyed it almost as much as the finished thing!

First, we went on a hunt for tiny things. Goodness knows we have a lot of them. Toys, charms, buttons, and even alpha-beads that spell out his name. We collected about 30 things. The more you collect and the smaller the things, the more challenging the game. Or wouldn't it be fun to fill it with a bunch of similar things, like dinosaurs, and then search for each one.

Next, we photographed each individual thing, or group of things (for instance, 3 purple beads together). I set those up to be printed 2 each on a 4" x 6" photo paper. Then I trimmed the cards to 4' x 3" oversized cards.

Our favorite part was putting together the jar. The mind jars all used clear glue but I thought I would use cooking oil  (I don't really cook with a lot of vegetable oil but I had a couple of bottles which had turned a bit rancid. You can tell by taking a whiff...rancid oil smells funny.) First we filled the jar 3/4 full with oil. I had this fun tall jar that had contained Looza fruit juice. The tall, skinny jar worked great for us but it will work with any size jar. If you're concerned about using a glass jar, plastic will work fine too. Perhaps you could even use the plastic jar the oil came in?

Next we dumped in some glitter...a combination of colors and sizes. We are glitter rich in this house so we had plenty to choose from.

Then, Alfredo's favorite part of all...he dropped each little toy in, one at a time, watching it drift slowly to the bottom. Some toys floated for a while on top and then took the dive. Fun, fun!

Fill to about a 1/4" from the top with more oil.

Finally, because the idea of an oil slick in my living room makes me crazy, I secured the top with a bit of strong glue. Simply run a bit of the glue around the inner rim of the lid and attach. Clear bathroom caulk would work great too.

For the game, we can play together or Alfredo can play by himself. I think this might be just the thing for him while I'm preparing meals. Choose a card and then see how quickly you can find what's pictured. Some things, bigger toys like the snake, will be easy to spot, while smaller items like the buttons, will be more challenging. Choosing the card with the alpha beads spelling ALFREDO is most challenging of all since we'll have to find the letters in order!

Good cheap fun...

 Have fun making your own...I'd love to see how it turns out!