DIY Snow Globe

This snow day inspired a home-made snow globe project that turned out well enough for Mia's tastes. I suspected that the "correct" way of making your own snow globes involved glycerin (and a quick Google search confirmed this), however, I figured we could get away with using baby oil since I had that around the house. The "official" directions that you can find all over YouTube call for distilled water (or at least boiling your water and letting it cool down), but for our purposes I just used water straight from the tap. If you are looking for something professional looking, this is not it, but as a snow globe it gets the job done. Plus, it was the perfect way to re-use a small glass jar (which formerly held bouillon cubes, but baby food jars would work great if you happen to have those) and the ballerina that had broken off from her music box. (Surprisingly, we couldn't find any Happy Meal type toys that were small enough to work for this.) For classification purposes, I am labeling this a kid's craft, however, since it involved hot glue, I did most of the work. Upper elementary age kids and older could do this on their own, perhaps, but I did it mainly to amuse my 5-year-old and 2-year-old. For a video I consulted before making this project, see here.

Materials:

• clean glass jar with twist on lid
• hot glue gun (adult use only)
• water
• baby oil
• small trinket or toy
• glitter

Directions: 

1. Have an adult use a hot glue gun to attach a small toy or trinket (something that won't rust or dissolve in water) to the inside of the jar lid. 
2. Fill jar most of the way with water. (Child can help with this.)
3. Add a very small amount of baby oil. (Child can help with this.)
4. Sprinkle in some glitter. (Child can help with this.)
5. Have an adult rim the inside of the jar's lid with hot glue, being careful not to cover up the threading. (It won't screw on tightly if you do.) Screw lid onto jar.
6. You now have a snow globe so give it a shake. (If leaking occurs, remove jar lid, pull out hot glue, and reapply. If desired, you can apply a small ring of hot glue on the outside of the lid to ensure that it is sealed, but I don't think this is necessary.)