• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

  • home
  • about adrianne
  • buy the books
    • DIY T-Shirt Crafts (2015)
    • DIY Stamped Metal Jewelry (2016)
    • Rock Painting for Beginners (2019)
  • videos
  • crafts
    • diy beauty projects
    • kids’ crafts
    • paper craft projects
    • polymer clay
    • sewing projects
  • jewelry
    • bracelet projects
    • earring projects
    • necklace projects
    • jewelry tools & supplies
  • metal stamping
    • beginners’ tutorial
    • video tutorial
    • project ideas
    • metal stamping supplies
  • recipes
    • cocktail recipes
    • appetizers
    • main and side dishes
    • sweets and treats
  • by season
    • birthdays
    • new year
    • valentine’s day
    • st. patrick’s day
    • easter and spring
    • mother’s day
    • patriotic
    • fall
    • halloween
    • christmas
    • thanksgiving
  • privacy

Happy Hour Projects logo

07/02/2014

DIY Busy Jar – Search and Find Kids’ Activity from Recycled Household Items

I have a fast and fun way to re-use an empty peanut butter jar for you today.  With just a few household items, you can turn it into a “busy jar” – a search-and-find activity for the kids.  You can put this together in under 10 minutes, with about $1 worth of uncooked rice, and small items you can find in your junk drawers.

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

This is a fun item to keep in the car for long trips, or bring it along anywhere it gets hard to wait (like a restaurant, doctor visit, random Tuesday when lunch is taking too long – you get the idea).  So next time you encounter this, save it:

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

Remove the label, wash it, and make sure it’s totally dry before beginning.  Find a few small trinkets.  In 10 minutes, I found a key, a marble, a button, a ceramic butterfly, a flower cabochon, a bead shaped like a fish, and a plastic star.

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

Fill your jar with rice, adding the items to the jar as you go.  It tured out the key was a little bit large for this size jar, we’ve only ever been able to uncover part of it at a time.  It would work great for a larger jar, though. Leave 1-2 inches of space at the top, otherwise the rice won’t have room to move around.

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

I glued the lid on with a heavy-duty adhesive so that I never have to worry about finding a pound of rice all over the carpet.  I also added a label to remind us of what we might be looking for.  That’s an optional step – this activity works just as well if the kids don’t know what they’re looking for!

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

As you shake the rice around and turn the jar, the items will be uncovered.  (We found that plastic items surfaced really easily, due to the weight of the rice.  So consider that when searching out items.)

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

Here, the expert will show you how it’s done:

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

It’s true that it won’t become your kids’ favorite toy, but it’s a fun boredom buster and activity that you can make with little effort, and make using things you probably already have!  Activities on the cheap?  Works for me!

DIY Busy Jar - Search and Find Kids' Activity at www.happyhourprojects.com

What are some of your favorite inexpensive kids’ activities?

Adrianne Signature

Filed Under: Kid Crafts, Parenting, Tutorials Tagged With: 10-minute project, boredom busters, car games, games, kids, kids crafts, recycle, rice, upcycle

copyright policy and terms of use

I love it when you love my work! All tutorials and photos published at Happy Hour Projects are copyrighted. If you would like to feature my tutorial on your website or share it on your social media you may use one photo to feature, as long as you provide a link back to the original post.

If you feature a photo, it may not be accompanied by the project tutorial or recipe, whether in my own words as it originally appears or paraphrased by you. This also includes personal sharing on social media and Pinterest. Publishing multiple photos from a project, or including instructions with an accompanying photo are not permitted and you will be asked to remove them.

I love to share my projects, and my tutorials, recipes, and e-books are ALL free for your personal use. However, photos and ideas that are published to this site are my protected intellectual property. You may print them at home, but please do not copy or distribute them. I also allow all designs to be made and sold at fundraisers, craft fairs, etc. If you are selling a piece made from one or more of my free tutorials in your online shop, I require that you use your own, original photography, and include a link back to my website to credit me as the designer.

I hope you enjoy what you read here, and please be fair when you share!

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. 14 Awesome Rainy Day Activities | Spaceships and Laser Beams says:
    06/29/2018 at 12:33 pm

    […] From Happy Hour Projects […]

    Reply
  2. Rainy Day Activities for Kids - Living Chic Mom says:
    08/29/2015 at 11:05 pm

    […] DIY Busy Jar ~Happy Hour Projects […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hello, and welcome! I'm Adrianne, an artist, author, designer, and blogger in mid Michigan. I work from home, chase my two kids, and this once-city-girl is learning how to care for chickens and adjusting to life out in the country. I have a compulsion for daily creativity... sometimes it's jewelry-making, paper crafting, metal stamping, mixing and baking, or giving new life to recycled items. But with 2 young kids, time is short! My goal here at Happy Hour Projects is to share projects and tips that you can do in an hour or less. The ideas you find here are designed to add a little creativity in your day, no matter how much (or how little) time you have!

BUY MY BOOKS!

Copyright © 2022 Happy Hour Projects on the Brunch Pro Theme