Ideas for Baby Food Jars

They work great for putting home made baby food in, using as bowls for baby cereal, putting snacks in to put in the diaper bag, or you can put a ribbon around the lid, and put left over halloween candy in it, and give it as a little gift to a friend.

We use them for holding all the misc. size sqrews and nails and other little tidbits in my husbands "work area" in the garage. We have also used them in the past for holding homemade finger paint or tempra paint (you can find recipes for this online). I can't wait to read other ideas!

Growing up my mom had a baby food jar Christmas tree that lit up. You can put some garland in each jar and use a little string of lights and hot glue to hold the jars together. If you are interested I could go into more detail with you but they were super cute and rather inexpensive! Have a great day:-)

Go and buy different colors of tissue paper and some sort of glue adhesive. Cut out small squares and let your kiddies arrange them how they want!! Help them glue them on and then coat them in a clear acrylic to prevent peeling. You could use them as tea light holders for a funky table decoration or put random little things in them for storage. You could always recycle-recycle them so they can be made into other products. Otherwise, glass is safer to store leftovers in..you could use them for dips and such...Have Fun!!

I had kept ours one year and used them for valentines day instead of treat bags. I filled each with a little valentine colored candy, had my daughter decorate the outside with stickers and tied a ribbon around the top. They looked so cute!

I also saw in a magazine they used them for snow globes. They attatched some sort of figure to the lid, added water and glitter then glued the lid shut. Those looked really cute too. It may have been from Martha Stewart.

Also try typing in crafts with baby food jars on a search engine. I'm sure there are more great ideas out there.

I don't really have any crafty ideas, but what I like to use them for is putting salad dressing, or other small salad toppings in it when I bring someone a meal (our church makes it a point to provide meals for a month when someone has a baby...and there are tons of them right now!). You know, they'd also be good for holding extra buttons or embellishments (if you're into card-making or scrapbooking). I like that you're asking...I'm all about reusing in creative ways! : )

E. , of course they are great for small things, little beads, or whatever, but even can be used in the garage, take the lids and nail the lid in the center to a board, like under a shelf, then you can store nails or small things you need in your garage but can never find, then all you do is screw the jar to the lid and wa la it stays there and you got a neat storage unit for small stuff, if you put like 6 in a row, under a shelf, you can screw the jar right to the lid that has been nailed under the shelf, and it will hold, other than that i dont have much use, you can put jello in it for older kids, cotton balls, dice, snacks for in a car, any way have fun and enjoy life, D. s

I find baby food jars are great for keeping flower and vegetable seeds I reap in the fall and also for beads and small pins and the like for sewing or crafts. I also know they make Christmas tree pyramids from them. They are stacked, glued together and a light from a lightstring put in each one. They are really pretty. Good luck, I'm sure there are a lot more uses.

This isn't turning them into craft projects, but it does use them in the craft process. If you use X-Acto or other craft blades, glass baby food jars are an excellent storage and disposal container for used blades.

The jars of course also work well for storing art/craft paints.

I've seen people screw the lids on the underside of shelves in a utility room, workshop or garage and store small stuff like washers, small nails and screws, and such. Just unscrew the jar of stuff you want, then screw it back onto the shelf when you're done -- work counters stay clear.

Talk to your local Schools and Daycares They make get contanier for counting button or dice for lower elementary storage also get for mother day vase for marigold your little one could plant

Not crafty, but...my dad used our old baby food jars to organize his nuts and bolts, etc out in the garage. He built himself a little baby-jar-sized shelf and lined them all up on it.
On the crafty side, you could use them in the same way to organize crafts...like odds and ends for sewing or scrapbooking.

Around christmas I take the differnet size jars and paint them white. Then I glue three together and make snowmen. If your kids are old enought to help, the like to do faces. Then I use them as gifts for people like daycare ladies and babysitters.

My grandma used to make lighted Christmas trees out of them. She punch holes in the covers and put the lights through. Add some garland on the jars. Glue the jars together with super glue or cement glue. These are so pretty in a window or near a mirror during the hoLiday season. I'm sure you could use them on any holiday ocassion. Just use the colored lites to reflect the holiday of your choice. Happy craft time!

Go to your local Library and get a book or two like the "ultimate kid creation" book and it will show you how to make Snow globes and they make really good lights in the summer to hang in trees with fire flies in them...or in a childs room at night. Also donate them to your local Daycare they can always use them for craft projects or your local elementary school art department.

I've done decoupage or just watered down glue to apply cut up tissue paper and added a tealight, makes a nice colorful votive holder. I've also done colored sand designs. I work for the public schools & we are always looking for extra items like these. If you can't find a use, let me know.

Ask your son's preschool class or local elementary school if they have a use for them. I know our school is always sending home requests for stuff like that.

I just learned of a nonprofit organization called Free Arts Minnesota. They use the "healing power of art" to help abused and neglected children. See www.freeartsminnesota.org. You could call and see if they could use the jars for storing supplies and/or for art projects.

My daughter uses her sister's old jars for storing beads and other small craft items. We had an old spice rack where she keeps them. They are great for this purpose since you can easily see what is inside.

Personally, I use baby food jars to make candles in....you could also put beads, pins, or other small things in them as containers, or paint the outsides and put little snacks in them for on the go because of the lids, or paint the outsides and put a little soil in them and use them as little planters...here are some websites that have some pretty great ideas:

http://www.abchomepreschool.com/Crafts/BabyFoodJarCrafts.htm
http://www.talkingchild.com/craftsbabyfood.aspx
http://gsleaders.org/files/jars.htm
http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/art/babyfood042999.html

There are tons more on the web, but I didnt think you would want them all here!! LOL Good luck with your crafting!

not sure about craft ideas at home but if you are just wanting to recycle them and not necessarily have to use them at home I'm sure any local pre-school or elementary school would make good use of them
J.

Make snow domes with them!

I donate a lot of my crafty recycables to a local Art Museum that does classes for kids. They can use anything.

But I craft idea you can do at home is Sand Art. Take regular salt and mix food coloring to make a certain color. Store each color in a different jar until its time for the kids to create. Then give them spoons and funnels and let them build their own sandart in a jar. You can even take the spoon end and push in down the side to make a streak through the color layers. Just remember to pack well all the way to the top so the sand doesn't shift and mix. A little hot glue will help hold the lid in place. Happy Crafting.

I've seen them used as little snow globes. You would glue a "scene" on the inside of the cover, fill with water, a pinch of glitter and a little glycerin, seal shut and turn upside down.

you can make decoupage votive holders

Here are a bunch of great ideas. http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/babyfood_jars.html

I live in a duplex and the owners are our friends who live upstairs. Last christmas was the first one for both our little girls and we definately had jars to spare! We put a tiny christmas tree in our entryway and decorated it with babyfood jar lid orniments. We each printed up some photos of the little ones on our computers, cut them out, and glued them or just fit them inside the lids. Then we cut tiny holes for yarn or ribbon to hang them with. We got so many compliments the tree looked so cute! :)

course i think we recycled or threw away the jars.. wish i had checked with local schools or daycares- thats a great idea. :)

I saved them up for my daughter's 1st birthday. I added a personalized label to each jar which included her picture, name, birthday, and special ingredients such as sugar and spice, etc. I then filled them with colorful M & Ms and then for the kids invited to the birthday I filled it with the multi-colored marshmallows (I think) or something for safe for little kiddos. I think I added a ribbon around the rim. It was a great favor to pass out and I still see many of the jars around still at my relatives houses. Otherwise, my husband has used some of the jars for his nails, screws, etc. I've also used some of the jars for crafty things such as little foam stickers, scrapbooking items, or other little items. Those jars definitely come in handy.

Just in time for Halloween.....
Click on the following link and then click on candy corn jar. You can switch the fabric and candy for a different Holiday too.

http://pie.midco.net/grammalowe/halloween.html

I should add-I did not paint a base coat on the jar, I did a clear coat after the eyes (can't remember which product I used). For the eyes instead of using paint I used Elmers Painters Markers (found them at Joanne Fabrics). Ultra fine black and fine white. I also hot glued the fabric to the lid.

A perfect activity for you and your kids at this age would be to decorate them with stickers & glitter, tie a string of raffia or a little ribbon around them & put tealight candles inside. They make cute gifts from the little ones to relatives, teachers etc.

I have also seen baby food jar tealight holders that were a little more sophisticated--even simply lining up 5 or 6 of them along a fireplace mantel or as a centerpiece--a nice effect for any season.

Hi E.

I just googled "baby food jars and craft ideas" and there were a lot of links for various types of crafts for baby food jars.

Have fun crafting.

you can use them for paints, candles (melt crayons and insert a wick) or they can be used in the garage for nails, screws, etc little pieces of this or that...

im sure you can do a search online...

OR you can contact your local school/daycare center and see if they would like them. they usuaully need those sorts of things too!.

Make a minature snow globe, glitter, water and perhaps a toy glued on to the lid. Glue around the edge of the lid.

I gave mine to the YMCA after school program. They do all sorts of crafts with them. Maybe ask your daughters teacher at school, I'm sure they could use them for lots of fun projects! I also saw something fun that you could do with the kids at home for grandmas and grandpas, make home made snowglobes. Just get a few fun items to put in as the main focus, glitter and distilled water. Ofcourse you'll want to glue the tops shut when the kids are done! Have fun!
~T. T.:)

E.,
I gave the jars to the local middle school science teacher. We meet on a regular basis and I now save yogurt, spreadable butter, and sour cream containers for her classroom. I also save the styrofoam that comes on the bottom of meat packages for her classroom.
Good luck!
J.

Hi E.,
My daughter used these to make candle jars. They glued tissue paper on the outside of the jar and decoupaged it to seal the tissue on. Put a tea candle inside it. If you do collect alot you can always call your local school and ask if any of the teacher would be able to use them. My daughter did her candle at school.
L.

Our MOPS group used baby food jars to make a salt scrub for the bath or shower. It was the perfect amount and looked really pretty in the jar. I'm sure there are many recipes for the scrub on line. Good luck!

Screw the lids to the bottom of a shelf and use then for storing small things

Hi! For years my kids have made potpourri jars with the old baby food jars and given them for gifts. We fill the cleaned jars with potpourri, cut out a lace square for the top, secure it with a rubber band, and then tie a pretty piece of ribbon around it. We've given them to teachers, Sunday School teachers, grandparents, and so on. It's a great way to recycle the jars, it smells nice, and the kids make the presents with minimal help and time! Enjoy!