Glitter Bottles

Alright, the first project in our new "Garbage Goodies" series is a Glitter Bottle. There are many names and variations of this project. I will put some links at the end if you want to try other methods. But for now, let's begin!

Garbage needed: a bottle with a cap. We used Gatorade, but I would actually recommend something with smoother sides, like a plastic 20 oz. pop bottle. So drink some diet Dr. Pepper and then get out the supplies below.

The version I chose to make needs a bit of canola oil (or corn, vegetable, even baby oil - I wouldn't waste olive oil on this though!), some glitter (I bought my 12 pack at Wal-mart), and sequins (I bought a big bag at Michael's using a 40% coupon, so it wasn't too much and I have used it over and over again on projects). You can also add food coloring.

Fill your cleaned out bottle 1/4-1/3 full of oil.

My kids really wanted their bottles to be colored, so we added a few drops of food coloring.

Add the sequins.

Add the glitter.

See how pretty already? As my kids were dumping glitter and sequins in their bottles, it seemed like so much, but don't hesitate to load it up, since you really want it to sparkle. I think we could have added more.

Fill the rest of the bottle with water. At this point you could also hot-glue it shut, especially if you think your kiddos will try to open it. Now is also a good time to have them just observe the bottle so they can see the changes that occur (especially if you use food coloring, because that stays mixed).

Then shake, shake, shake!

Everything mixes together and the glitter dances. I have noticed that with the Gatorade bottles the glitter and sequins seems to stick on the ledges and nooks, so if I did this again I would definitely use something smoother like I suggested above.

 Once it has settled a bit again, Have them look at how the oil and water separate again. 

 

We did these about a week and a half ago and my boys just leave them on the table to go in and look at them and shake them. I'm excited to try some of the other variations I saw out there.

Variations:

• Use only water (I saw this in a Mailbox Magazine book)
• Use a mix of oil and rubbing alcohol (Exploratorium.edu)
• Use corn syrup (Enchanted Learning)
• Make it into a "lava lamp" with Aka-Seltzer tablets (Family Fun Magazine)

Activities for Summer #78

Martha Stewart 24-Vial Glitter Multi-Packs

3 Assorted Sizes Sequins

McCormick Food Colors