Preschool: DIY Snow Globes

We make snow globes every year in preschool during our weather unit. I have always wanted to put the kiddos photos inside the globe. So I decided to give it a whirl. ( Get it whirl, like snow globes whirl around... haha... ok not that funny) 

Remember these cute snow photos we did? Well, I made doubles and had my parent helpers cut them out as well. :) Then I laminated the pictures with my Scotch laminator. It does a "hard" finish. Not flimsy. I kinda love it. You should check out Amazon and get one. I cut out around the photos, leaving a bit of an edge, so the pictures are well sealed. I collected large jars, mostly spaghetti sauce size, then I jammed the laminated photos inside. No need to secure them with any type of glue, mine kinda stayed put. Even if they didn't, they would look cute whirling around in there. 

We are working on name recognition and writing in preschool too! So I had these great letter beads from Discount School Supply. 

I had the kids look at their name tag and find the letters of their first name. Then put them in the jar. 

Then they added glitter and sequins! 

Now, you fill the jar with water. You can add a few drops of glycerin to the water to help the glitter float a little more slowly through the jar. I did not bother with that part this time. 

Make sure you have filled the jar to the brim with water so when it is turned upside down, the whole picture is underwater. 

NOTE: You could also put the picture in the jar right side up, so when you put the lid on, you would not have to turn it upside down to see everything correctly. Does that make sense? I could not do this with most of my jars, because they had this funky little bubbled glass around the top that distorted the picture. 

Dry the lids and rims of the jar well, add a bead of glue (either hot glue or a super glue) Screw the lids on being careful to get them threaded correctly. Let dry a few minutes, then Shake away! 

The pictures just don't do it justice! :)

We used these during closing circle while reading the book "Snow Dance". Every time we read the word "Snow" the kiddos would make it snow in their globes! 

Inspiration for laminating the photos came from this great site! Our Best Bites!