Monday, April 30, 2012

The Sun Jar Simplified-Great Night Light for Kids!!

I was really inspired to make these 'Sun Jars' below when I saw them over at this website. They are just so magical and cool to look at...I knew my kiddies would love them! I am almost embarrassed to call this a craft because there was no real work involved in making this...I picked up a solar path light at Lowes, they come in all sizes and shapes and you can purchase them individually. They cost about four or five dollars.

Things you will need:
  1. Solar Path Light
  2. Plastic Cup or Bowl (colored)

I basically screwed the top part off- (the solar cap) and put the rest of the parts into my stash of junk that I may need later. Maybe.
The battery (barely) shown below is charged up daytime by our wonderful sun and then at dusk, turns that tiny, little bulb on. It is really tiny but holy cow it's bright! This one is LED and it was almost daylight, florescent bright.  The charge lasts about 8 hours.

I searched my entire house for ideas on how to diffuse the bright white light. I wanted something a little more calming and soothing. I didn't want to use a mason jar or anything glass since It will be in the kids room and on their windowsill during the day. I was afraid of them breaking it - that can get a little messy...Also, that would involve frosting or painting the jar etc. I'm lazy. I always look for the easiest, fastest way around things. The glass jar idea would be great for older kids or teens however. I would definitely do them for a patio or garden. So anyway, I tried all shapes and sizes of plastic bowls, cups, paper cups, you name it. I settled on the yellow/pink toddler cups below. They were the perfect width and height for this particular sized solar cap.
Place the solar cap over the cup and that's it! the cap is a bit heavy so it sits well on the cup--You can always glue in place if you wish. I didn't glue it because the kids still use this cup and hey, you never know, sometimes I run out of clean cups in this house! hah...

Make sure this panel area is always exposed to the sun daytime to recharge.
How Awesome is this? The kids absolutely LOVED this...
You can place this on the windowsill or anywhere in the house--I will definitely do many more of these and place them all over our home at night--No need to replace expensive batteries like other night lights. Best of all, no electricity used :)
Enjoy!
Don't forget to leave me your feedback :)
Pin It

7 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 02, 2012

    What a great and inexpensive idea. Love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great because it doesn't rely on there being a plug socket nearby and is a great energy saver. I have issues with having no socket in the hallway so that I can't plug in a sensor light. I have these lights in the garden, but what a great idea to use them this way - I even have the same cups at home (mine are from Ikea)! Will really be looking into this - great thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the great comment! My cups are also from IKEA! :)

      Delete
  3. Cool! But let me ask you a question. You do not keep this light on the table all day between the beds, you move it to the window during the day and to the table at night - is that correct?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LindieLee,correct-It is moved from the windowsill onto the nightstand.-In the summer, with the window shades up,you should leave it on the windowsill.

      Delete
  4. Good post. It seems really simple and you can actually do it in minutes. Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...