Glitter Bottle

The glitter bottle/time out bottle is the newest fad in therapies and with moms. I first thought to use it with my music therapy clients, because a lot of my clients are attracted to visual stimuli. In addition, I have a few clients who take breaks throughout the session, and I think it would be much more beneficial to have a timed visual that they can understand so they can tell when the break is over. So I pinned a few pages on Pinterest, and bought the materials. 

I loved this page because another mom described her troubles in hope to prevent her readers from having a mess of a project. Her tips helped a ton, but I had different problems. 

I have currently made 3 different bottles, and none of them are exactly what I wanted. Putting it together couldn't be more simple, but I thought it would be a lot easier to control the time. 

Initially, I used a Smart water bottle, however, I found that for my littlest clients, this bottle would be too big for them to hold. So I found a Sparkling Ice drink that is skinnier, but just as tall. I first filled it 3/4 full of water (just about 2 cups), and then poured the water into a glass measuring cup. The first time I used a 5 cup measuring cup. I found out that because the water was more spread out, it was deceiving as to how fast the glitter falls. So use the tallest glass cup or bowl that you can still easily stir in to get the most accurate timing.

These are the materials I used. 

The blog suggested to use clear tacky glue, glitter color of your choosing, glitter glue (not washable) and hot, almost boiling water. I could not find glitter glue that was not washable. The consequence is seen a bit later. I heated up the water in the measuring cup until it was slightly boiling. I then poured in the glitter glue, mixed it up, and added the glitter. The first two bottles I made ended up being thick with glitter, so for the third bottle, I actually measured the amount, and used 2 tablespoons of glitter. 

For the first two bottles, I then added tacky glue about 1/4 of the bottle at a time, mixed it, and then timed it to see how long it would take for the glitter to settle down. The first time, I used an entire bottle. The second time I used 3/4 of a bottle. Each time, it didn't quite seem long enough. However, it took me until the third bottle to discover that while it is still hot, it will settle faster. When it cools, it just about doubles the time. For my first 2 bottles, it took them 6-8 minutes to settle which is way too long. So the third time I put in only about 1/4 of a bottle. When it was still hot, it only took over 2 minutes to settle. When it was cool, it took just over 5 minutes. 

Once I was done adding glue, I then mixed it up one more time, poured it in the bottle so all the glitter would pour out with the water, put the top back on, and shook it to see how it looked. Again, if it is still hot, it will double the time to settle when it is cool. 

This is the final product, just after I shook it. As you can see, on the top, the suds are a result of the washable glitter glue. It does not hurt it, but it doesn't look as nice. I tried skimming the bubbles off on one of the bottles, but they re-appeared to no avail every time. 

I left the lid off until it was cool, then superglued it on so no little hands could open and make a mess. 

This is about 2.5 minutes when cooled

This is after just over 5 minutes when cooled

 If you try this project, I hope you can get it where you want it faster and easier than I did!