Snow Globes

The month of December was spent making gifts, mostly crafts, for our loved ones.  We had several projects going on so that the children could pick what it was they wanted to work on during art class. Book making, magnets, cards and coloring books for the younger siblings were among the ongoing projects.

The final week before our Winter Break we made snowglobes using found material. Old jars and discarded ornaments or salt shakers are transformed into something magical and dazzling with little effort.

What we used:
*A wide mouthed jar, one that will not tip over when turned upside down
* a figurine or other object(s) to glue to the lid, creating the inner "world"
*Silicone adhesive
* distilled or bottled water ( to keep microbes at bay)
* liquid vegetable glycerine ( I found this at the natural foods store)
* glitter or fake snow ( I have heard crushed eggshells work but I haven't tried this myself)

For several weeks beforehand, we saved cool looking,  wide mouthed, glass jars and I found a huge bag of mismatched or broken Christmas figurines at Goodwill for $1.99. I tried several kinds of adhesive, including Gorilla Glue, and found that silicone worked best and dried the fastest.

I had the children each select their object and I helped them glue it to the lid. The silicone is messy and somewhat toxic so I handled that part, while they did all the designing. They then added the glitter that they wanted, choosing from a few different colors.
Then, we added the water and 10 or so drops of the liquid glycerine to help things float and swirl nicely around in the H20.
Finally, we turned our object, glued and dried on to the lid, upside down and into the water-filled jar. Once we were satisfied with the look, the water level and amount of glitter, we sealed the lid of the jar with a bead of silicone. This keeps it from leaking. If you like, you might add a little ribbon around the base for a little extra flair.  Now, Shake it!