Well, it's time to post about another Pinterest project! This was another one for the kiddos! I have seen these pins floating around Pinterest (& have pinned it twice, myself in 2 separate places!) of glitter jars that are a visual aid to help kids "chill out". With the temperaments of my boys, I decided it was time to give this one a shot!
When the boys misbehave, it tends to end up being an issue of their actual reaction of being disciplined or their reaction to being frustrated over something that ends up getting them in the most trouble. So, they may have just thrown the Wii remote because they were frustrated with the game and as a result, I may give them a warning, saying "I understand that is frustrating, but it isn't okay to throw the remote." Warning 1. Fast Forward 5 minutes, and the same thing happens again & I have to send one to his room & the whole house explodes in a major meltdown. Screaming, tantrum meltdown. THEN, I can't just let that behavior go. So the child ends up in more trouble over his behavior at being angry/frustrated then for the actual offense. Make sense? It REALLY gets drawn out over here & it is really tough on this mama. Just gonna add that.... But I feel like I am always saying "It is okay to be angry, but it is NOT okay to ACT like that when you are angry." However, I can't say as though I have actually given them constructive ways to deal with their anger either.
So, when I saw these bottles, I thought- GREAT IDEA!
They remind me of snow globes, but with colored glitter. The idea is that by visually watching the glitter settle, it helps them to focus on something else & calms them when they are angry, frustrated, & sad. By the time the glitter settles, they should have themselves composed.
Here is how we did it- For each one you need:
a clear bottle (I used those "ICE" flavored water bottles- bought them as a treat for the kids)
a bottle of glitter glue (I used 2 smaller containers from a multipack at dollar tree for each one- but they have larger containers in the $1 bin at Michaels that would've been perfect)
a small vile of fine glitter (look in the kids craft section rather than the scrapping section of Michael's- much cheaper... each vile was $1.29)
clear tacky glue (if you want to slow down the "settling" any more- I skipped this)
I filled the bottle about 2/3 of the way full with WARM water. This helps the glitter glue dissolve.
I had the boys help make them so that they would get pumped about using them when they were done. So they squirted in their glitter glue....
And poured in their glitter....
Shook them up...
And were super excited with the results!
The only thing I am not too pleased with is that a lot of the glitter foams up on the top. Not sure why, but the kids don't mind & they work otherwise! So we'll take it!
"Be angry & do not sin" -ESV Ephesians 4:26
