Thursday, May 24, 2012

DIY Terrariums With a Two-Year-Old

Hi! I am Alex from The March Owl. You can usually find me there talking about my life as a domestic engineer (stay-at-home-mom), my pitiful gardening skills, my latest DIY, and my love for comic books. 

Thank you, Holly, for the opportunity as a guest blogger here on So Dang Brilliant.

terrarium

How do you make those fabulous terrariums popping up all over Pinterest, while having a toddler who wants to touch everything? Simple, you get him involved. Trust me, you will find the terrarium cuter when they help. (No, just a mommy thing, oops!) 

If you don't have kids, then this is simply a terrarium DIY hosted by a crazy, curly-haired 2-year-old! Let's get started.

Gather Materials:
Materials 

jar(with lid, pictured here are a strawberry jar and candy jar) // sheet moss (sometimes called preserved sheet moss) // pebbles (rocks, even marbles) // soil // activated carbon( found near fish equipment at department store) // small figures (we used eraser dinosaurs from coin machine) // greenery (optional) // skewer (or something like it [not pictured])

The Nitty Gritty Instructions:
materials all lined up 

This makes it easy for the kids, otherwise they will keep putting their favorite part in and forget the rest (as I learned with our first go at this). Let's just say my terrarium of soil looks fantastic on my shelf.

I recommend even amounts of each layer—remember to keep the size of your jar in mind.

step by step instructions
  1. Add pebbles
  2. Add activated carbon
  3. Add soil
  4. Add greenery (Can you see his excitement?)
  5. Add sheet moss. Little ones will need help with this one as you have to place the moss around your greenery.
  6. Use skewer to push moss into place
  7. Add small figures (you can use the skewers to make them sit upright)
  8. Close it up and you're done! 
If you see it get foggy, then there is no need to water it. However, if you don't see it get foggy just mist it once or twice.
happy kid
 
Blurry shot, but there is no mistaking the happiness!

finished terrarium 

The finished product!

If you decided to make a terrarium leave a link in the comments—I would love to see it!

Thanks for sharing this with us, Alex! You're an A+ pen pal and a super cute person.

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