How to make a glitter sensory bottle using glue - Kid Activities with Alexa (2024)

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Sensory bottles are all over Pinterest now, with hundreds of recipes it can get confusing to find the right one to follow.

I have tested many of the, have hosted live Instagram and live workshops, and I can’t wait to show you!

To make a glitter sensory bottle you need, clear glue, water, glitter, and a plastic clear bottle.

Today I will give you all the info you need to make your own glitter sensory bottle. Even better, I will show you how to make a perfect one every time!

Sensory bottles are great for Tummy time exercises and are super easy to make! But they are also awesome for toddlers as they learn to manage their emotions. They are also called calming bottles.

These magical bottles have so many uses, allow your creativity to flourish and once you start making Them, you won’t want to stop. (This is just part of my collection… the other half is in my office shelf)

My collection has:

• Fall leaves sensory bottle
• Rainstick sensory bottle
• Christmas tree sensory bottle
• Ocean in a bottle sensory bottle (tutorial coming soon)
• hot and cold sensory bottle experiment
• Spooky Spider sensory bottle
• Itsy bitsy Spider Sensory bottle
• glow in the dark skeleton sensory bottle
• and more…

To make your first sensory bottle you will need a plastic bottle, something to slow down it things fall such as clear glue, and a visual element such as glitter, confetti or beads.

How to make a glitter sensory bottle

The glitter sensory bottle is the easiest one to make and that’s why I will show you how to do that first.

The turkey bottle below just has some extra elements glued to the bottle to give it a theme. This is optional and definitely not required. But as you can see, the possibilities are endless!

Materials

• A sensory bottle (People like to use VOSS bottle because of his flat top).
• Glitter
• food coloring
• clear glue
• super glue

How to assemble a glitter bottle

If you purchased the VOSS bottle, dump (or drink) a little bit of the water.

Add one drop of food coloring. Be gentle with the drops because if you add too many the water will become too dark and then you won’t see the glitter and confetti later on.

Add about 1 Tablespoon of glitter to the bottle. I often try to match the color of the glitter to the food coloring I am using.

As an option, add a small amount confetti. The confetti is usually heavier than the glitter so this will fall faster than the glitter when you shake the bottle. If you add too many of the confetti I have noticed that they tend up sticking to each other and don’t look as nice. So less is better.

Close the bottle and shake it. Do you like the ration between confetti and glitter? If so then you are ready for the next step. If not, add more of what you need until you are happy.

Add clear glue: I fill up the remainder of the bottle with clear glue. Leave some room for air. If you don’t have clear glue you can add clear soap. But clear soap is not as thick so you might need to adjust the quantities to get the slow down effect you want.

Notice how fast the glitter and confetti fall down. If you like it you can leave the bottle like that. If you want to have a more calming effect and get the glitter to fall slower then we need to add something to help the water be thicker.

To slow down the drop of the glitter add hand soap or clear glue to the bottle. Or even a little bit of both.

Tips & Tricks For Sensory Bottles

The clear glue is thicker than soap so it will make the water less clear and slow the glitter more. But you can fix it by adding some food coloring.

The dish soap is thinner and will slow down the glitter but not as much as the glue.

Why my quantities might not work the same as for you

All bottles are unique. Some glitters are thicker and heavier and some are lighter. After making a lot of sensory bottles and hosting a Mommy & Me event to teach moms how to make this, I learned that everyone has its own preference on how fast or slow they like the glitter to fall.

Start with a little bit of glue and water and add more as you need until you get the exact effect you want.

Have fun making your own sensory bottle for your infant and toddler (or yourself! my office shelf is full of them and I love to pass by and shake them)

SAVE THIS GLITTER SENSORY BOTTLE RECIPE

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