Is there anything more soothing than the slow fall of beautiful glitter particles suspended in water? It’s something I find very relaxing, and when my kids were young, they loved them, too! With so many variations, this glitter jar tutorial turned into a mason jar science experiment!
This calm down jar tutorial will show you how to make a glitter jar that can fall for different lengths of time depending on what glitter jar recipe you use!
Keep reading to learn more about glitter jars and get the calm down jar recipes.
What is a Calm Down Jar?
A calm down jar is a jar filled with something suspended in liquid (commonly oil or glitter) that slowly falls for a specified length of time.
We made jars that fell for 1, 5, and 10 minutes and one that fell for an hour.
Calm down jars are useful tools for kids who might be otherwise difficult to calm, such as children with mood regulation disorders or children with ADHD and autism.
We originally made this project when my middle daughter was 2.
It turns out, this particular daughter has ADHD/autism, so it makes sense that she would love the calming appearance of the glitter jars! We had no idea when we made these jars.
You can read more about our ADHD journey at ADHDsupergirls.
Tips for Making Calm Down Jars
I’ve tried to make my daughter a discovery bottle in the past, and mostly failed, so this time, I did a little more research before starting.
Our favorite recipes are below, but first, some general advice if you want to make your own.
Soap is absolutely critical. If you do not add a few drops of soap to the top of the water, the glitter just sits up there like a floating pile of ants.
In theory, the more thick material you add, the slower large pieces of glitter would fall, but in our experience, the large pieces just stayed on top of the liquid when it became thick and fell suddenly when it was thinner.
Mix your ingredients with hot water.
The basic instruction process is simple: Mix your ingredients together by shaking the jar, then when everything is mixed, add the dish soap.
If you shake the jar too much, the soap will bubble a lot, so we used a sort of swishing, twirling motion to shake up our jars.
As the jars cool, the fall time will change, so you can add more thickener if you think you want your glitter to fall slower once the water cools.
The glue created an atmosphere that was more “space-like,” while the corn syrup created an atmosphere that had more gravitational pull. The fall was slowed, but less of the particles went up like they did in the glue mixture.
What Do I Need to Make a Calm Down Jar?
- Glitter
- Tacky glue
- Light Corn Syrup
- Glitter glue
(You could probably also use clear glue, the extra glitter just looks cool)
- Small plastic jars with screw lids
How to Make Glitter Jars
Follow along with these recipes to make 4 different variations on calm down jars that have different fall times.
1 Minute Fall Time (pink)
Bo seems to like this jar a lot.
- Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- 6 ox hot water
- 3-4 drops liquid dish soap (color did not seem to matter)
5 Minute Fall Time (yellow)
This was Monkey’s favorite jar.
- Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 6 oz hot water
- 3-4 drops liquid dish soap
10 Minute Fall Time (silver)
Bo liked this jar as well.
- Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- Glitter
- 6 oz hot water
- 3-4 drops liquid dish soap
1 Hour Fall Time (blue)
This was my favorite jar, but as a calm down jar, probably not that effective. I put it near a window so the sun could shine through it.
- Ingredients:
- 1/4 bottle glitter glue
- Extra glitter
- 6 oz hot water
- 3-4 drops liquid dish soap
Once the mixture cools, pour it into a plastic jar and seal the lid with glue. I expect waterproof glue would be best, but I think we used regular Tacky glue, which seems to be holding up all right after a couple of weeks.
I used super-glue on our original discovery jars, but it corroded after a few weeks, so I don’t recommend it.
If you experiment with these recipes, let me know! We actually had more fun making the jars than we did playing with them, for the most part. Bo, of course, was only allowed to play with the finished, cooled product.
What is your favorite glitter jar recipe?
More Glitter Jars and Discovery Bottles
Creative and Educational Science Discovery Bottles
Sparkly and Colorful Patriotic Discovery Bottle for Kids