MIND JAR FOR KIDS

Mind Jar for Children

As a parent, learning how to effectively punish your children can be pretty tough. The mind jar is a great solution because your children will begin to see a timeout as a time to relax and calm down versus getting in trouble and throwing tantrums.

The idea of the mind jar, is that when you feel a timeout is necessary, you tell your child to go take some time with the mind jar. You (or the child) can shake it up, and then they have to sit there until the glitter settles. The don’t HAVE to watch the glitter, but majority of children will become mesmerized. What happens then is that within those 2-5 minutes, they calm down and can come and hand you the jar and say the glitter has all fallen down.

Depending on the age of your child, at this point you can ask what was on their mind. Some will say nothing, some will apologize, some will say I don’t know, but what’s important is that you ask them if they feel better now that they have taken some time to relax.

The reason I think this is so great for parents is that instead of having a loud argument with crying and yelling, you just simply have to ask them to go take some time with the jar. Sure, they may stomp over there and be unhappy about it, but by the time the glitter settles they will feel much better. Typically when kids are sent into timeouts, they have to sit in silence or they feel isolated, which angers them even more leading to tantrums. This way they still are to sit in silence, but their attention is solely on the glitter.

SO, now how to make one of these bad boys for your home!

It’s very simple, and the amounts of the ingredients will differ based on your jar or water bottle size, as well as the age of the child(ren).

Supplies Needed:

Jar or Water Bottle

Water

Glitter Glue

Small Glitter

Dish Soap

Whisk

Bowl

Important notes

*The water MUST be hot (not boiling) when mixing because the heat will help separate the glue and materials

Fill up your container with water, and fill it just about to the top. Then you want to dump this water into a bowl or large measuring cup, and stick it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until the water is hot.

Next you will start to squirt in the glitter glue, whisking it as you squeeze it in. (I used almost the whole bottle with my large jar) At this time you can slowly begin to add your dry glitter as well.

When you are mixing it with the whisk, you can take a break and see how long it is taking the glitter to settle in the bowl. This is when you can begin to add dish soap or clear glue to thicken it up. Just add a little at a time, and observe the difference it makes.

Now it’s time to transport it into the jar! I would suggest you super glue or hot glue gun the lid shut once you are satisfied with the jar, so that it is never reopened.

At this time I would time the glitter, so you can expect how long your child’s “timeout/mind jar time” to be in the future. Also, feel free to decorate. The more detail and “fun” there is on this jar, the better experience they will have with it.

This particular jar takes about 3 minutes to fully settle. Perfect for miss Olivia, the 3 year old

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Categories: activities for kids, benefits of a mind jar, child psychology activities, DIY kid activity, diy mind jar, glitter projects, how to make a mind jar, mind jar, mind jar for kids, mind jar for timeouts