I have been obsessed with terrariums for a while now, especially since the time I thought about how cute one would look perched on my gray desk. When I saw that my co-worker Suzanne had one on her desk, I spilled my guts about how much I wanted one. I would pop by her desk now and again to peek at hers, and after enough visits, I finally convinced her to teach a terrarium building workshop after work one day. They were surprisingly easy to make and have been super easy to take care of. And the best part is how soothing they are to gaze at in the middle of a stressful day. All you will need to make your own terrarium are the six materials above. (Don’t skip out on the mini animals — they make all the difference!)

First, place a 1″ layer of small rocks in the bottom of your jar. Place another inch or two of potting soil on top of that. There’s no need to pack the soil, although you can smooth it out if bumpy soil bothers you.

Using your finger, create holes in the soil to plant your succulents.

Place each succulent in its own hole, making sure to cover the roots of each plant. You can use as many succulents as you like. Each person found that it took a little bit of experimenting to find exactly the right number of succulents that looked right to her. (I used about 8 plants in my terrarium).

When you’ve planted all your succulents, you can stop here, or if you’d like to get fancy, add small rocks to the exposed soil for a finished look.

You can also place dried moss on top of the exposed soil. Some used only rocks (which looked rad), some used only moss, and most used a combination of both.

As a last step, place your miniature animals in the tiny world you’ve just created and give it a story.

My friend Stacy made a safari scene with a happy elephant and a curious giraffe.

Someone else made a scene from Jurassic Park.

My cousin Denise said “the heck with strawberry shortcake!” and made a terrarium trifle.

One person even had tiny hikers braving a treacherous journey over many, many (so many) boulders.

So far, I’ve watered my terrarium once a week, and pretty sparingly at that. They don’t need a lot of water or attention which makes them the perfect desk companion.