Glass Jar Keepsake Parent Gift – Made by Kids

It’s that time in the school year to make parent gifts in your classroom!  You may be searching for the perfect keepsake gift for Christmas, Mother’s Day, or Grandparent’s Day.  Parent gifts that kids can make themselves can be tricky in the classroom.  My goal is to make them as simple and as inexpensive as possible.  This year we made glass jars and I am so impressed on how they turned out!  Let’s get started with the instructions!

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The Jars

The first thing you will need to do is purchase glass jars for every student and two for students who have divorced families.  The Dollar Tree always has a good variety.  Pick any glass jar you wish. They don’t have to match either.  Each child can pick the jar they want before they paint if you can’t find enough that are the same.

Setting up the paint

Squirt a little bit of acrylic paint into clear plastic cups and add a paint brush to each cup.  I use cups rather than paper plates to keep the brushes from mixing with other colors.

Setting up the table

Put out a few jars with a piece of paper under the jar.  The paper will protect the table from dripping and splattering paint.  Cover a tray with plastic wrap and place at the end of the table.  The plastic wrap will keep the tray from being stained by the paint.  Don’t forget to write each child’s name on the bottom of the jar!

Paint Time

During center time, I pull students to paint their jars at the table with me.  I only do four students at a time.  Make sure the students wear paint smocks; the acrylic paint will stain their clothes!

Fill the Jar

Once the jars have had time to dry overnight, we fill the jars.  You can have the students fill their jars with candy or put a small candle inside.

Wrap It

I buy paper bags from the dollar store and tissue paper.  Each student dots their bag with dot markers, places the jar in the bag, and tops it with tissue paper!

Your students’ beautiful gifts are ready to go home!   They are not only simple, but adorable!  Don’t get me wrong;  it still takes time to have every student paint a jar, fill it, and wrap it.  But compared to other parent gifts I have tried in the past, this one is a piece of cake!

More Kid-Made Gift Ideas

Ok so maybe you don’t want to do glass vases for a gift. No worries friend beacuse I have an entire blog post with all my go-to kid-made gifts for you to choose from.

These are one of my favorite gifts to do during the holidays too!

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