Making Smelly Jelly

MAKING SMELLY JELLY: A KID-FRIENDLY PROJECT

If you have young children, like me, and you are looking for a fun and safe project to do with them at home this is a GREAT one to try!

Smelly Jelly is like a candle, but it does not require any heat to emit the fragrance. Pretty much all the materials used to make Smelly Jelly are non-toxic and safe for kids to handle. You can put these little guys in your kids' rooms, your car, bathroom, office, and pretty much anywhere else! They are made out of a non-toxic water crystal that can hold up to THREE HUNDRED times its volume in liquid! Just add some fragrance oil and distilled water and you have a cute little jar that will make your home smell amazing!

We sell just about everything you need to make Smelly Jelly. Here's what you'll need:

Water Crystals
Smooth Sided Jelly Jars 8oz
Daisy Cut Lids (we sell them in pewter and gold)
Fragrance Oil
Distilled Water
Food Coloring (optional)
Measuring Cup
Tablespoon
A Cute Kid (not sold in stores)

Step 1

My beautiful daughter, Ellie, is 5 years old and was able to do this project pretty much all on her own. All I had to do for her was measure out the distilled water, fragrance oil, and the food coloring and she did everything with just a little bit of instruction!

First, we lined up the jars so we could create an assembly line. Doing this seemed to make it super easy for her to repeat every step for each jar.

One thing that I didn't do that I wish I had was lay some wax paper down on her work space. Fragrance oil can sometimes discolor wood stain so it is best to take this extra step to protect your table! (Luckily, she didn't really spill anything so my table was fine!)

Step 2

Next, I had her measure out 1 tablespoon of water crystals for each jar. I simply gave her a measuring spoon that was the right size and the bag of water crystals and let her go to town! She repeated this step until each jar had approximately 1 tablespoon of water crystals in them.

I know it doesn't look like this would be NEAR enough of the water crystals but remember, these little guys can hold up to three hundred times their volume in liquid so don't add any more or your jar will be overflowing with Smelly Jelly!

Step 3

For the next step, I measured out 1 cup of distilled water and poured it into each jar. I did this step for her because the gallon of distilled water would have been too heavy for her to lift but, she seemed happy enough to watch me fill the jars for her!

We recommend using distilled water to keep the Smelly Jelly from growing any mold or mildew over time. You can make it with regular tap water but keep in mind that it may not last as long because it may get a little moldy.

Step 4

Next, I measured out 1 tablespoon of fragrance oil and poured it into each jar. This is one step I DEFINITELY recommend a parent or guardian do for this project because some of our fragrance oils can irritate the skin if it comes in direct contact with it. We all want to keep our kiddos safe so please make sure you take special care measuring your fragrance oils and keeping them out of reach of children or pets!

Once I measured out all the fragrance oil I let her SLOWLY stir it to help blend it as much as possible. You will notice that the fragrance oil is oil-based (duh) so it may not mix in with the water until the water crystals fully plump up. You can see in this picture that they are already starting to absorb water and grow!

Step 5

For this next step, I added a couple of drops of orange food coloring to each jar and let my daughter keep stirring everything together. Stirring each jar for a couple of minutes seemed to really help blend everything together. Plus, she loved watching all of the little water crystals swirl around!

Step 6

For the last step, I had her screw on one of our pewter daisy cut lids on each jar. These lids are vented so it makes them perfect for the Smelly Jelly. The holes are small enough that it helps keep the jelly in the jar but wide enough that the fragrance is able to escape and make your room smell amazing! We also sell a cardboard Pulp Liner that fits down inside the lid and makes a sort of seal on the jar. These are great if you need to transport your Smelly Jelly to sell, give away, or if you need to store them. Since we were planning on placing these all over the house, we didn't use the pulp liners this time.

All done!

And that's it! She had so much fun making these with me, and I loved getting to watch her little mind work and figure out how to complete all these steps. As you can see from the picture, she was SO proud of herself! She kept smelling each jar saying, Mmmm! That smells SO good!" We ended up putting one of the jars in her bedroom, bathroom, and the living room and it makes the whole room smell so good!