Magical Glitter Jars

I thought these would be something my kids would enjoy, and I was right! There’s something mesmerizing about watching the glitter slowly swirling around the jars, sparkling, and eventually settling, only to shake them again and start the process over again.

I made a really simple version! All I used was:

• Pint mason jars
• Storage lids for the jars (I love these!)
• About 2/3 of a bottle of this glue in each jar, so I needed 2 bottles but I have some leftover.
• HOT water to fill the jars the rest of the way, to dissolve the glue initially.
• Glitter for each jar. I probably used about 3 small tubes of different glitter for each one. The larger pieces settle out faster, so using more fine glitter makes a more swirly jar.
• Optional: food coloring to make the color of the water more intense.
• Some sort of glue to secure the lid. I’ve heard this glue works really well, but we didn’t have that, so I used my hot glue gun to squirt some glue around the edges of the lid before screwing it on, then put them in the fridge so they could cool down (remember, the water in the jar was HOT, so it was going to keep the glue melty until it cooled) and keep the seal.

How do you do it? Even simpler.

1. Dump some glue in the jar.
2. Pour in your glitter.
3. Add the hot water to fill the jar.
4. Optional: Add a few drops of food coloring.
5. Squirt sealing glue around the entire edge of the lid (where the threads are) and quickly screw onto your jar.
6. Put the jar in the fridge until everything is cool, and your sealing glue is dry/cool (depending on what kind of glue you used).
7. Shake, swirl, and watch the magic!

We made a silver/gold “Treasure Jar” for my son, and a purple “Magical Jar” for my daughter. They love watching the swirling glitter while I get their breakfast or lunch ready.

Since our jars are glass, they only use them while supervised so I can make sure they’re being gentle. If you used a plastic jar (like leftover from nut/seed butter or something) or a water bottle, they would be more portable and less breakable.