At-Home Activity: Sensory Jar
It’s normal to feel overwhelmed sometimes. Stress affects children and adults in ways that can be hard to understand, so it’s good to have a visual reminder of how chaos settles over time.
This Sensory Jar activity can help your child express their feelings (stress, anger, and boredom to name a few) and visualize how strong feelings settle if you just stop and watch how they pass.
If you don’t have all the craft materials to make a Sensory Jar in the same way as we’ve outlined in the instructions, that’s okay! As long as you can shake the jar, watch the materials you have swirl about, then eventually settle, you and your child will be in good shape.
The following materials are encouraged to complete the activity in 20 minutes:
Plastic or glass jar
Water
Liquid glue
Glitter and/or other mixed media or craft materials such as sequin, buttons, and beads (optional)
Essential oil (optional)
Guide your child through these steps to create their own personal sensory jar:
Instruct your child to find a plastic or glass jar. Depending on how big their jar is, pour equal parts water and glue into it (i.e. ½ cup water and ½ cup glue).
Aid them in adding a few teaspoons of glitter plus any other crafts materials (i.e. sequin) to their jar.
Have them fill the rest of their jar with water, then screw on the lid of their jar on tight and give it a shake.
Ask them the following questions: Does it resemble the feeling of overwhelm and chaos at first? What happens as the glitter and/or craft materials fall? Can you think of any new feelings and sensations that arise as you watch them settle?
BONUS: Have your child unscrew the jar and add several drops of their or your favorite essential oil to it. This will allow another one of their senses, their sense of smell, to engage in the activity. After the glitter and/or craft materials have settled, instruct them to give their sense of sight a rest and unscrew the top to take one big inhale and exhale to see what their sense of smell can pick up!
The whole family can make different Sensory Jars and come together to talk about how everyone decided what to put in it, how shaking it feels, or times when a shake of the jar might be a good idea!