Snow Globes

We had a quiet day today after yesterday's busy activities. We were all still in bed at 8am and lounged around in our pyjamas most of the morning. I did a few emails and cleaned out the chickens while the kids did Lego/craft/watched Stick Man.

We eventually got around to doing a more structured activity together: snow globes! They are really, really easy. I asked the children to find some very small toys that they might like to use. I warned them that once inside the jar the toys were never coming out, so advised them to choose something that wasn't too precious that might be missed. Jenson constructed a little post man complete with letter, phone and beer! I helped Wren source many small animals from her vast collection that normally end up inside the hoover! 

Once the snow scenes were chosen I helped the children to glue everything down onto the lid of the jam jar, being careful to make sure we could still do it up afterwards! 

Next I filled the jars with water ready for the children to add the glitter. Jenson chose traditional white but Wren went for bright pink, naturally!  The recommended single tea spoon of the sparkly stuff was totally ignored as I watched at least half a glitter pot get poured in to each jam jar. You can never have too much sparkle I guess! 

Next I added the glycerin to help thicken the water and prevent the glitter from falling too fast, before screwing the lids back on.

It's fair to say there is a pretty heavy snowfall inside those jam jars and yet despite barely being able to see the figures, Jenson and Wren were mesmerised by their new toys!

If you want to have a go at making your own snow globes, it's really easy. I came across the idea in an article in the Guardian newspaper. Here's how you do it:

You will need:

Clean, empty jars, white plasticine, model railway people and trees (we used Lego figures and small plastic animals), glitter, epoxy glue, water and glycerin.

Method:

Build up a snowy hill out of white plasticine in the centre of your jar lid so you can see your figures over the rim of the jar. Choose the position of your figures then glue them into place.

Carefully glue your snowy hill to the inside of the lid, ensuring that it won't stop the lid from screwing back on. Leave to dry for around 10 minutes.

Fill your jar with water, add a teaspoon of glitter and two drops of glycerin to stop the glitter settling too quickly. Stir until the glitter is mixed with the water and not too lumpy.

Very carefully screw your lid firmly back on to your jar.

Once the lid is secure, turn the snow globe upside down, shake gently and watch as the snow falls.