DIY Calming Glitter Jar

I always see cool crafty project for school counselors on Pinterest, but they're usually geared more towards elementary school students. My high schoolers would probably roll their eyes at me if I brought in a fun little board game about managing emotions. Recently, I've come across several tutorials for these calming glitter jars, and I think my students would actually like to use this one!

A lot of times students will come in upset or worked up about something small. Sometimes I don't even really need to talk to them, they just need a few minutes away from everyone and everything to pull themselves together. I'm hoping this glitter jar will help them focus on the here and now, at least for a few minutes. I also like it because it serves as a timer - some students will sit in my office forever when they really need to be in class, so now I can just have them shake up the jar and once it settles, that will be their cue to wrap things up.

I read a bunch of tutorials on how to make these, and I kind of combined them. I ended up sticking to this one the most.

Here's what I used:

• Mason Jar (I got the clear ones from the Target dollar section)
• Clear Glue
• Food Coloring (I used neon blue)
• Glitter (I used three different sizes of glitter to add some visual interest)

Here's what I did:

1. Heat up some water in a pot on the stove. I just warmed mine up a little, not bringing it to boiling.
2. Put a drop of food coloring in the bottom of the jar.
3. Fill the jar up about halfway with the warm water.
4. Add in the glue. You can use however much you want depending on how fast you want your jar to settle. I used a whole bottle, and mine takes about 3 minutes. Use a fork to stir in the glue until dissolved. The warm water helps the glue dissolve smoothly.
5. Now add the glitter! I was going to attempt to measure mine, but I just kept pouring until it looked right. Stir it with the fork to see how it looks and how long it takes to settle, then decide if you want more. I used maybe half of the light blue glitter from the picture above, and a few shakes of each silver.
6. Top it off with more warm water if needed.
7. Put the top on tight. Give it a shake and watch and relax! You can still go back and add more glitter at this point if you want to.

Let me know what you think if you decide to make one!