Jar of Happiness
Jar of Happiness
Ages: 4+ (Adults can help younger people with cutting + assembling)
Description: Create a jar of happiness out of a recycled, glass jar! Spend time collecting objects that make you happy, then write down what you‘re grateful for. Decorate your jar and keep it to look through in the future, when you are feeling sad or give it to a friend to brighten their day.
Conversation Questions: Journal about, think about or ask each other:
- What makes you happy?
- What are you grateful for?
- What makes the people you care about happy?
Supplies:
- Jar (wide mouth is nice, like a salsa jar)
- Something to decorate your jar: Paint, paint markers or tape
- Paper
- A drawing utensil
- Scissors
- Objects that make you happy
Steps:
- Collect objects that make you happy! Some ideas:
- Go on a nature walk
- Look around your home for small objects Pictures of family and friends
- Write out all the things that you are grateful for or that make you happy. You can make these cute by drawing them inside hearts or decorating them. Cut each thought out so they are now tiny objects.
- Take the label off your jar and decorate it.
- Put all your awesome objects in the jar and keep it or give it to someone!
Tesni’s Objects (from top left, counter clockwise in a spiral):
- Picture of my mom
- Picture of Fiona Apple from the 90s
- Bubble wrap
- Japanese dog money
- Confetti
- An old gummy finger (now hard) that my coworker and I hide from each other to find
- A tiny tube of toothpaste
- Objects from nature walks (some from now, some from the past)
- Pin made by one of my students
- Two glass beads made in a VisArts class
- Bottle cap
- Thread ball
- Fabric scraps from making face masks
- A tiny, hand-carved shoe from a friend in Japan
- Various tiny toys including two varieties of hot dogs
What I’m thankful for: Going outside, snacks, my bike, my job, health, friends, family, Mike, flowers, iced coffee, animal crossing
