love: in a jar = ScavenJAR Hunt

Today I’m delighted to have my friends Keri and Kelly guest post for my July series, Love: In a Jar. Keri and Kelly recently founded the amazingly awesome blog, Bringing Crafty Back, which you all pretty much need to check out. With that, I give you Keri and Kelly!

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I heart mason jars. They’re simple. Old school. Clean. Usable. Adorable shape. I just love em.

So when Angela asked us if we’d like to be a part of her Love: In a Jar series…, well, I think I did a cartwheel… in the car… on the freeway… ok, it was a mental cartwheel, but I was flipping out!! {Pun intended.}

Anyway, Keri and I took weeks to come up with the perfect project. We wanted to do something original, which is so not easy in this Pinterest-y world. {Not that we don’t love us some Pinterest!}

Craft One: a ScavenJAR Hunt, for the kids!

Keri was headed out soon for a family road trip. So we were racking our brains for a fun, road trip friendly craft that would keep the kids from whining, “Are we there yet?!”

We came up with a ScavenJAR hunt!  It’s not just a craft. It’s not just a game.  It’s a crafty game!

We took a cue from the game Find It to create a mason jar full of small toys hidden by rice.  The kiddos shake, shake, shake their booty the jar in the backseat looking for all the goodies inside. Once they find each one, and each child has had their turn, the hunt is over.  It’s kinda like Where’s Waldo meets Mason Jar, but with REAL toys!

We filled our 32 ounce mason jar with about 8 small toys and white rice.  You could also use beads to make the jar more colorful, but we chose rice as a more frugal option. Any size mason jar will work, but the larger you choose, the longer the game lasts, meaning you’ll keep the kids quiet for a little bit longer… Holla!

We chose not to paint this jar and let the kids have at it. A jar covered with paint leaving only a portion of it viewable works better for the older kids who need more of a challenge.

Once you arrive at your destination {or if you get desperate for more car friendly entertainment}, throw away the rice and let the kids play with the toys.  But, keep the jar for craft two!

Craft Two: a Souvenir Jar, for you!

We took a cue from Ang’s second post in the series to keep the mason jar love alive.  While you’re on your vacation, collect something you would like to take home and remember about your trip.  Rocks from a hike? Sand from the beach? Receipts and trinkets from a shopping extravaganza? You get the picture. When you get home, you can dress that jar up with some extra special lovin’ {see instructions below}.   Just choose something that will make you smile a year from now when you glance at the jar on the shelf.

Breakdown

Time: 20-30 minutes (not including dry time)

Cost: about $30 (we spent $10 on 12 jars, $10 on toys & about $10 on a few paint supplies)

Skill Level: easy

Materials Needed

A mason jar (and in my case, many extras to “practice” on)

Paint & painting supplies (we used chalkboard paint, it can be any glass-appropriate paint)

Small toys (we purchased ours at Fred Meyer)

White rice or beads

Optional supplies for tag: paper, hole punch, ribbon

Instructions

(follow along with the numbered images above)

1.  Gather your supplies, jars and all

2.  Get your paint ready.  {Turn on some craftspiration music.  We like Justin Timberlake, as you can tell.}

3.  Dunk the top of the jar into the paint.

4.  You will have to let it dry before you can do the bottom of the jar.

5.  Once the top is dry, dunk the bottom in the paint. (Note: if the jar doesn’t dunk far enough for your liking, you will need to put your paint into a larger bucket or bowl (I had to do this).

6.  Done with craft one! In order to spread out the toys evenly, add a little rice, then a toy, then more rice, over and over until all the items are in the jar. Only fill the rice to just above the paint line. This way it looks like it’s full but there is plenty of extra room for all the shaking that’s about to go down.

7.  Throw your hands in the air, and wave them like you just don’t care!  Or just wave them like a toy soldier.

8.  Ok, so this is craft two. After the rice and toys have been emptied out, fill up the jar with your collected mementos.

9.  Now make your tag and tie it with a ribbon. Write the date and locale.

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So, how cool is that? Two crafts that fit two bills – entertaining the kiddos and looking good on the mantle. We just love that!  Enjoy!

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Keri and Kelly became friends over Pinterest, Instagram, and a mutual obsession of all things iPhone.  They recently decided they should start a blog, mostly to legitimize to their husbands all of the time spent on these activities.  Read all about their adventures on their baby blog, Bringing Crafty Back.

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Disclosure from The Coupon Project: Fred Meyer has not compensated me to run this series, but has teamed with me by providing me with store credit to use to purchase and highlight items throughout this series. All opinions expressed are my own. For more information on how this site makes (and does not make) money, there’s no mystery there – just visit my Disclosure Policy.