Sensory jars are super fun to make, and allow little hands to develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and the satisfaction of having made something that is fun and colorful! This post will show you exactly how to make an easy and fun Valentine’s Day sensory jars!
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1. Choose Your Jar
The first thing to do is to get a jar to put everything in. Many people use soda bottles, but for Valentine’s Day I wanted ours to have a fancier look. I wanted us to be able to decorate the top as well.
Click here to buy the exact jars that I got. They are 3.5 inches wide, which was perfect for my almost 11 year old.
For toddlers, this jar may work better. It doesn’t hold as much, so wasn’t the best fit for the Valentine’s Day sensory jar idea we had in mind. However, they are more comfortable for smaller hands to hold, as they are only a little over 2 inches wide.
2. Get All Your Supplies
While this project is super easy to make, there is a bit of prep work involved. We got our supplies from Walmart and Amazon, but I’m sure you can find things at any craft store, such as Michael’s, Joann’s, etc.
Here’s an easy list of clickable Amazon links you can use if you just want to order everything that I used online:
- Plastic jars
- Rubber Cement
- Decorative shells
- Blue acrylic hearts
- Pink acrylic hearts
- Clear glue
- Floating pearls
- Foil confetti
- Odds and ends
- Pink ribbon
Other than this, all you’ll need is water!
Otherwise you can print the How-To card further below, and that includes all the supplies you need to hunt for at the store!
3. Create The Scene
For this, we wanted to have something “stuck” to the bottom, so we chose to glue decorative rocks to the bottom a few hours before working on the rest of the project.
My son used:
I chose to skip this step, but next time I think I’d carefully rubber cement my unicorns to the side of the jar to make them easier to see!
4. Add Water & The Glue
Next, we needed to add half the water and some glue to the bottle. This clear glue is perfect for making sensory bottles! If you plan to make multiple sensory jars (we want to create different ones for each holiday!), then it’s a good idea to buy a bulk jar of clear glue. It is more cost-effective!
Fill the sensory jar about 1/2 way with water. Add approximately 3 ounces of glue per 7oz of water. For these 35oz jars, we used about 12 ounces of glue.
Once the glue is in, it’s time to put the odds and ends you chose in the sensory jar!
5. Add The Special Stuff
We put around 2 oz of decorations in our jar. The idea is to put things you’ll find pleasing and calming, to look at and enjoy for years to come.
We both really loved the shininess and size of the foil confetti. I added pink, dark pink, and a pearlish white color to mine. My son added pink, red and the pearlish white.
Here’s what we chose to add to ours:
- Rocks for the “ground”
- Glitter confetti (Option 1, Option 2, Option 3)
- Floating pearl beads
- Acrylic hearts (pink and blue)
- Random odds and ends
Isn’t it coming along nicely?
6. Add The Water
Next up is adding water to fill to the top of the jar. For this particular jar we used 1.5 16oz bottles of water. Close tightly and shake, shake, shake to mix everything up!
We left around 1 inch of space as we put in floating beads and we’re not quite sure how much they will expand, and what effect they’ll have on our project.
Make sure you are happy with what’s in your jar, and add a little more glue if the glitter is falling too quickly.
7. Glue The Lid On
Once you’ll ensured that your sensory jar is working just as you’d love it to, then you’ll want to re-open the lid, dry the threading on the jar and inside the cap, apply super glue or liquid cement, and re-close the jar.
This way you don’t have to worry about it coming undone accidentally or on purpose and creating a huge mess or ruining something unexpectedly!
8. Add Pink Ribbon!
We both felt that adding pink ribbon gave our Valentine’s Day Sensory Jars a super special touch.
We are really excited with how these turned out and already have ideas to make our next sensory jars even better!
Here are printable, easy to follow directions, without all the additional chatter!
Easy & Fun Valentine's Day Sensory Jars
These Valentine's Day Sensory Jars are so easy and fun to make! It's a great Valentine's Day activity for families who want to involve their children in the day's festivities. Sensory jars can be very calming to your child!
Materials
- Plastic jars
- Super glue
- Decorative shells
- Acrylic hearts
- Clear glue
- Floating pearls
- Foil confetti
- Odds and ends
- Water
- Pink ribbon
Tools
- Long paintbrush you can discard can be helpful for the super glue depending on the length of your jar, but not totally necessary.
Instructions
1. If you are adding a non-moving scene to the bottom, open the jar, apply super glue, put in your scenery, and allow to air dry for at least 4 hours.
2. Fill bottle halfway with water.
3. Add 8oz glue to your 35oz bottle.
4. Add your special Valentine's Day inspired odds and ends.
5. Add remainder of water to your jar. Leave approximately 1 inch headspace at the top of your jar.
6. Close your jar tightly and test how it came out.
7. Once happy with your sensory jar, remove the lid again, make sure the threading on the jar AND cap are dry, and apply liquid cement. Close the jar tightly and let it sit another 2 hours.
8. Your sensory jar is now permanently closed and complete! Enjoy!
Notes
If you choose to use the floating pearls, it can be helpful to let the water beads sit in water for 3-4 hours to fully swell up first. It will make it easier to arrange your sensory jar the way you want to, and also to put the perfect amount!
Final Thoughts
Wow, I’d say choosing to make these Valentine’s Day sensory jars was a huge success. What do you think?
And if you’re looking for more awesome Valentine’s Day activities to do with your kids, be sure to check this post out!
Skip to Instructions
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