Terrariums For Teachers

Through some miracle, I am entering my last week of school this year.  Not that the year has been bad, but I've had this 2 hour commute to contend with, which has slowly sucked my soul from my body.

Anyway, enough of my junk.

Kiddo #1's terrarium

This year, my son is starting kindergarten, so he's finishing his time with his caregiver-extraordinaire.  And my daughter started at the Montessori this September. I can't tell you how wonderful these two women are to my children.

So, we decided to make some terrariums for their beloved teachers.  I found some glass containers at the grocery store for next-to-nothing. It's always nicer if they have a lid, but I thought the shape was cute enough to give it a whirl.

You can do this more economically by using teacups found at thrift stores (trust me, they're uber cute!) or even old wine glasses.  If you use those small containers, you won't even need to buy extra soil for planting-- just put the stones at the bottom for drainage, and then add the potted plant. Seriously adorable. I've got one in the kitchen that is incredible.

Materials:  glass beads/stones/marbles (about 2 small sacks), a glass container, some plants, some soil (if the container is large).

To make this, I got some glass beads and rocks from the dollar store.  The kids chose the bead colours and then dumped them in the bottom of the container. Then we added a layer of rocks.  The layering didn't really show the cute colours of the glass beads, though, so we stirred them up to get a mixture.

Kiddo #2's terrarium (and Kiddo #2 in the background) 

Then they scooped out some planting soil. We added some succulents (whatever ones you like best, honestly. There's no way to go wrong!) and voila!

If this is your first foray into terrariums, the stones/beads go on the bottom to keep the soil from rotting. Randomly, I add worms to my terrariums whenever I find one under a rock, but we didn't add them to these ones.

Also, we had some leftover beads, so we gently placed them on the open spots after, and they look super cute!

Anyway, the whole endeavor took a total of 30 minutes.

Then the kiddos wrote a card to their teachers.  Kiddo #1 wrote hers by herself, while I quoted Kiddo #2 for his card.  Then I wrote "Thanks for making such a wonderful habitat for me; I made this one for you!"  in the card, too.

Honestly, such a cute idea, and who doesn't love succulents?!

All wrapped up and no where to go. What's a terrarium to do?

Here's a couple of pics of ours. We wrapped them in some tea towels and will send a spray bottle (again from the dollar store) with the plants for watering.  So fun!

Let me know if you do it and how it turns out!