Make your own snow globe! This is a great activity to do at Christmas. You end up with either a pretty, homemade decoration, or a homemade gift for someone special. Either make your own figurine or use one you already have. All the things you need are easily found and you probably have a lot of it at home already.
You will need:
- A glass jar
- Glycerin (available from the chemists)
- Plasticine / plastic figurine.
- Glitter
- Glue gun or double sided sticky tape
- Optional – small polystyrene balls if you have any lying around (the make great fake snow)!
Method:
- Make your figurine using plasticine, or any small plastic figure.
- Using the glue gun or double sided tape , stick it to the inside of the jar lid.
- Fill the jar 2/3 of the way full with either water or glycerine and add the glitter (and polystyrene balls if applicable)
- Put the lid on tightly, you may want to glue it or sellotape it.
- Turn it upside down and your snow globe is done!
Why not try?
- Replacing the glycerine with baby oil, what happens? Does the glitter move differently?
- Try using water and adding an effervescent tablet, what happens?
The science bit:
- Glycerine is a viscous liquid that more dense than water, this means that it behaves a little differently to water! You will notice that the polystyrene balls and glitter move a lot slower than they do in water – like a slow motion winter scene! You can make your own snow globe and learn about science at the same time.
