Jar facts for kids

A jar is a strong, round container with a wide opening at the top. Jars are usually made from materials like glass, ceramic, or plastic. People use them to store many different things, such as food, beauty products, medicines, and chemicals. They are also great for holding items that are too big to fit into a bottle with a narrow neck.

Glass jars are often used for home canning and keeping food fresh for a long time. You can store all sorts of foods in them, like jam, pickles, marmalade, honey, and many other tasty treats.

Many people also reuse jars to store their homemade foods. To make sure jars are clean and safe for food, they are often sterilized. This means heating them in boiling water or an oven for a few minutes to kill any germs. If a jar isn't needed for storage anymore, it can be recycled.

Jars have different types of tops, called closures, to seal them. These can include screw caps, lids, or even corks. Some jars also have special seals, like a heat-sealed film or a tamper-evident band, which shows if the jar has been opened before.

Glass jars can usually be used in a microwave, but it's important to be careful so that hot contents don't splash out.

Jars are often recycled based on their material. You might see a special recycling code on them. In some places, you pay a small extra fee when you buy a jar, and you get that money back when you return the empty jar to the store.

A jar of mayonnaise

What Are the Different Kinds of Jars?

There are many types of jars, each designed for a specific purpose.

• Mason jars: These are very popular for preserving foods like fruits, jams, and vegetables at home.
• Kilner jars: Similar to Mason jars, Kilner jars are another type of container used for storing food.
• Mayonnaise jars: These are a specific kind of Mason jar made especially for mayonnaise.
• Canopic jars: These ancient jars were used in ancient Egypt during burials to hold the internal organs of the deceased.
• Leyden jars: This is a simple device used in science to store electric charge, like a very early type of capacitor.

Images for kids

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  Hexagonal jar decorated with flowers and birds, late 17th century, porcelain with overglaze enamels, height: 31.1 cm, diameter: 19.1 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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  Preserved food in Mason jars

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  Jar made of PLA-blend bio-flex, a bioplastic

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  Candy jar

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  Peanut butter

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  Six types of "earthenware jar" in Spain

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  Brown-glazed jar with design of three fish. Yuan Dynasty.

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  PP jar of skin cream with pump dispenser

See also

In Spanish: Frasco para niños