Snow Globe

You will need:

• Small jar with tight fitting lid
• Small action figure
• Star shaped confetti
• Glitter
• Distilled water
• Clear, liquid dish soap
• Bottle caps
• Hot glue/gun
• Plumber's tape (optional)

How to:

1. Most likely, your action figure will need to be raised slightly in order to be seen in the jar. Hot glue one or two bottle caps (check to see which shows the action figure better) to the inside of the lid.

2. Hot glue the action figure to the cap(s).
3. Fill the jar almost full with distilled water. Add a squirt of dish soap.
4. Add a handful of confetti and lots and lots of glitter!
5. If you have plumber's tape, wrap it around the grooves of the jar. Carefully place lid on to jar and tighten. Flip over, get wet.

Thoughts:
Oh, my, so craptastic. Where to begin with this one? Originally I saw this idea in the Star Wars Craft Book by the amazingly cool Bonnie Burton and it suggested using baby food jars. I, however could not find action figures small enough to fit inside baby food jars so I bought the next smallest size I could find at the Dollar Store. (You get what you pay for sometimes!)

I bought the smallest action figures I could find, the little short, squatty ones that are really popular right now and they fit great, except for the characters holding guns, which scraped against the sides of the jar as we were screwing the lids back on, which in turn would pop the figures right off the bottle caps. Oh, and let's mention that the slightest little jostle (or prying finger) would also pop a bottle cap off. I had the glue gun ready to go at the party!

I had the Younglings sit in a semi circle in front of me and we made the snow globes assembly line style. (I had glued the action figures to the jar lids beforehand to save some time and prevent curious hands from grabbing the glue gun!) I have to say, the kids loved putting these together. You could've heard a cricket chirp while they made them. Everyone got to choose the action figure they wanted and add as much glitter and confetti as they wished.

Now let's flip them over and watch!
Uhhh, is yours leaking?
Maybe that lid isn't on tight enough.
Oh, wait. Mine is leaking too.
Oh for Pete's sake.
Craft...fail.
Hey everyone, when you get home open up your snow globe and you have a new action figure! Yay!

I did later try the plumber's tape on Elliott's jar, but it still leaked. I thought about trying to hot glue the lid to the jar, but I figured El would eventually want the action figure out of it and knowing my luck, that would've been the one seal that actually worked and we'd never be able to get it back open. So, we gave up on it and have a new action figure.

Still, like I said, the kids really enjoyed this. Figure out what you can do to improve on it and go for it.


Youngling Padawans show me what they think of the leaky snow globes!


Elliott's Evaluation:
Mom, you weren't supposed to do any of it without me! (He's talking about the fact that I glued the bottle caps and action figures on to the lids before the party.) I really liked putting all that glitter in there. This was fun, very fun.