Over the past few weeks I have been collecting jars in preparation for this post, looking for the perfect container for my terrarium. I was even planning on going out and purchasing one, and then it dawned on me, why not create a collection of terrariums in different sized jars? I love re-purposing used items so it was perfect!  If you are wondering where to get the animals, mine are from the here are the ones I used. 

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Mini Winter Terrariums

Materials

• An assortment of clean glass jars lids optional
• Salt
• Pebbles
• Moss
• Mini Animal Figures
• Cardboard
• Hot glue
• Spray paint and primer, optional if you want to paint the lids

Instructions

My kids didn’t follow these instructions at all! They just wanted to pour salt into jars and stick figures in them. This is a pretty straightforward project so that method works! However if you want a little more long lasting and controllable results here are the steps to take:

• Step One Select your jar, figure, and accoutrements.
• Step Two Depending on the height of the jar you may either hot glue everything to the bottom of the glass jar or glue everything to a piece of cardboard to build up some height. I used some cardboard packing shapes as the bases, then glued that to the bottom of the jar
• Step Three Add your salt. Be careful not to pour it over anything it will get stuck in, like the moss. Depending on how snowy you want it to look you can adjust the salt height by slowly adding more or pouring a little out.

You’re done! Make a few more for a little menagerie.

That was easy, right?

Making mini terrariums is a great project for the kiddos. Terrariums always spark young imaginations!

Variations:

• Add Lids  Spray the lids with primer and then a coat of a colorful paint. I added lids only to end up removing them so more light could enter the jar.
• Snow Globe Instead of gluing things to the bottom of the jar, glue everything to the underside of the lid, fill the jar with salt, secure the lids on the jar, then turn upside down for a completely contained environment.

I’m using these as a Christmas day centerpiece on our dining room table.

More

If you loved learning how to make a terrarium another fun nature themed project is a DIY Chia Pet! If you are looking for other holiday activities check out our Tin Can Christmas Tree Activity!

Looking for cool art and design toy ideas for your kids this year? Check out our gift guide: Art 12 Days of Art & Design Toys for Kids!

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