How to Use Glitter Glue

Using Glitter Glue on Paper and Wood

Design your own sparkly posters with glitter glue. All you need is a piece of poster-board or cardboard and an array of glitter-glue options. Write your name in big bubble letters or use a fancy script. Draw a cool design around your name, or make a collage with cut-out images from a magazine. Use your glitter glue to add colorful, sparkly accents around the poster. Use your creativity to make a poster you love! You can make it themed (think sports, animals, or a favorite movie) or simply make a cool design.Tip: Try making a poster for a friend. For example, if you have a friend who is in a school play or who plays sports, you could make a sign with their name on it to support them at their next event.

Use glitter glue to embellish handmade cards. The next time you need to give someone a card, spruce it up with some glittery decorations. Decorate the inside of the card first and let it dry completely before you decorate the front of the card. Make your own thank you cards, birthday cards, holiday cards, or cards to simply say “hello” to a friend.

Make paper decorations to add some style to a party. Use construction paper to cut out shapes and decorate them with glitter glue. Try making hearts for Valentine’s Day, balloons for a birthday, ghosts for a Halloween party, turkeys for Thanksgiving, snowmen for Christmas, or butterflies for a spring party. Apply the glitter glue in different patterns and let the decorations dry completely before you hang them up. If you really love the decorations you made, save them in a shoebox or plastic container to use again at the next party you throw.

Create fun animals out of paper plates and glitter glue. You can make dinosaurs, bunnies, birds, rabbits, dogs, turtles, and other fun creatures using just a paper plate, some glitter glue, a pair of scissors, construction paper, and a marker. For example, to make a turtle, cut out 4 legs and a head from a piece of construction paper. Flip the paper plate over and decorate the back with glitter glue to make the turtle’s shell. Glue the legs and head to the paper plate to finish your craft. Add eyes and a smile to the face with the marker if you want to. Always let your glitter glue dry before you move your paper-plate animal. Use your imagination to create animals with non-traditional colors, like a pink bunny or a purple dog.

Celebrate fall by making DIY glitter pumpkin decorations. Brush away any dirt that is on the pumpkin and make sure it’s completely dry before you begin. Use glitter glue to draw a design on the pumpkin, or use paint brushes to coat the entire pumpkin with the glitter glue. You could create a traditional pumpkin face with triangle eyes, a nose, and a mouth made of black glitter glue, or write out an autumn-themed message. You could decorate a huge pumpkin to be a centerpiece on a table or to set out on your front porch, or try decorating multiple small pumpkins to use as decorations around your home.

Put glitter glue on wooden clothespins to get glam and organized. Apply the glitter glue to both sides of a wooden clothespin and set it up on its legs so it can dry without anything touching the glue. Use multiple colors on multiple pins so you can have an assortment to choose from. This is also a great way to get organized! After the glitter glue has dried, use a permanent marker to write the days of the week on each pin. Then use the pins to organize your homework, to-do lists, and reminders. To make the pins magnetic, use a strong glue to attach a magnet to one side of the clothespin and apply glitter glue to the opposite side.

Decorate wooden snowflake ornaments with glitter glue to make them sparkle. Use plain wooden snowflakes that you can buy at the craft store or create your own out of popsicle sticks. Use white, blue, and silver glitter glue for a traditional-looking snowflake, or get creative and use non-traditional colors, like red, green, and blue. Let the snowflakes dry completely before you hang them up on your tree. You could also use something like butter paper or wax paper if you’d like to design your own snowflakes. Lay out the paper, draw your snowflake, and then trace the drawing with glitter glue. Let it dry completely before peeling it off of the paper.

Applying Glitter Glue to Fabric, Glass, and Stone

Embellish a T-shirt with glitter glue for a special occasion. Get a plain T-shirt (whatever color you’d like) from your local craft store. Lay it out flat on a surface covered with newspaper. Use your glitter glue to write something on it or to draw an image. Let it dry completely before you flip it over to design the back or before you wear it. It can be super fun to make T-shirts with your friends or teammates for special events, like a big sports game, the last day of school, someone’s birthday, or a fundraiser. If you’re nervous about writing on the shirt, sketch out what you want to do in pencil beforehand. Use stencils if you want all your letters to be perfectly even, or trace an image or word directly onto the shirt so that it comes out perfect.

Add fun embellishments to T-shirts and pants with glitter glue. Pick out a piece of clothing you’d like to modify, like a cotton T-shirt or a pair of denim shorts. Lay it out on a flat work surface, and pick out a color of glitter glue to start with. Then use your imagination and draw some cool shapes and designs onto your clothes! Hearts, stars, geometric patterns, and lots of other shapes can really personalize your clothes. Let the glue dry completely before you put the clothes on. To keep the glitter in place, avoid washing the item of clothing for as long as you can. You’ll need to reapply your design if it comes off in the wash.

Create decorative jars to organize things on your desk. Use glitter glue to draw a design on a glass jar, like stripes, circles, flowers, stars, or even your name. Or, if you’d prefer a jar that is completely covered in glitter, open your container of glitter glue and use a paintbrush to paint a thin layer of glue over the entire exterior of the jar. Once that layer has dried, you could add another one if you want the glitter to be thicker. Use these jars to store pens, pencils, paint brushes, makeup brushes, and other crafting supplies.Tip: To help keep your glitter glue in place, finish off the jar with a coat of Mod Podge or something similar. This will make the exterior of the jar smooth, whereas if you left it plain, it would feel sandpapery to the touch.

Make sparkly magnets out of glitter glue and flat marbles. Visit your local craft store and pick up a pack of clear flat marbles, magnets with adhesive backing, and glitter glue. Start by cutting the magnets to fit the bottom of the marbles, then remove the adhesive backing and secure the magnets to the marbles. Then take the lids off of the glitter glue and use a paintbrush to coat the tops and sides of the marbles with a layer of glitter. Add additional layers of glue for a more glittery magnet. Use your magnets to hang things up on the fridge or on a magnetic board.

Make sparkly rocks to glam up your garden. All you need for this craft is a few rocks and some glitter glue. Decorate the tops of the rocks with the glitter glue; you could write names or words, draw shapes like flowers or bugs, or simply cover them with a cool design. Once the rocks are dry, set them back out in a garden or yard to add some more color to the space.Tip: If you get your rocks from outside, take a moment to brush away any dirt. If the rocks are wet, let them dry completely before you add glitter glue.

Using Glitter Glue for Educational Activities

Trace lines, letters, and images to practice hand-eye coordination. Give your kids sheets with traceable images on them (you can find these online or get them from educational booklets). Have them use glitter-glue pens to trace over the lines to practice their movement control and coordination. This helps children practice their hand movements, which will come in handy as they begin to learn to write.

Make a tactile letter board to help young kids learn their letters. Use a piece of construction paper or cardboard and glitter-glue pens. Make your own board and let your kids copy your letters onto their own so they can practice making the right shapes. After the glue has dried, kids can trace the letters with their fingers to help them cement the shapes in their minds. Make the letters as thick as you can so that they’ll still be raised once they’ve dried.

Create a glitter sensory bag to practice writing letters and numbers. Fill a small, resealable plastic bag 1/4 full with glitter glue. Seal the bag, taking care to squeeze out as much excess air as you can. Lay the bag out on a flat surface and see how you can use your finger to trace letters and numbers into the glue. Simply squish the bag to “erase” the letters and begin again. If you’re nervous your child will open up the bag and get the glitter glue everywhere, seal the bag with tape or double-bag it. Once letters have been mastered, you can move on to simple words, like names or different types of animals.

Fill cookie cutters with glitter glue to practice hand-movement control. It may seem a simple task, but keeping the glitter glue inside the confines of the cookie cutters and squeezing out an even amount of glue as you fill the space can be quite an achievement for those with young hands. Depending on what you’re focused on learning or teaching at the moment, you could coordinate the cookie cutters to a particular lesson, like holiday history, letters, numbers, shapes, or animals. Place wax paper or construction paper under the cookie cutters—the kids can keep their decorated sheets afterward if they want to.Tip: Visit your local dollar store to find cute, inexpensive cookie cutters. If you stop by after a holiday, you can probably find themed ones on sale.

Draw a self-portrait to practice creativity and exploration. With kids, this activity is simple and fun, and it’s a great way to let them start using their imaginations. Have them look at themselves in a mirror, and then ask them to draw their faces on a piece of construction paper with glitter glue. Provide multiple colors of glitter glue, as well as other crafting supplies, like paper, pompoms, buttons, beads, feathers, pipe cleaners, foam sheets, and sequins. The great thing about this activity is that there is no right or wrong way to do it! They can be as literal as they’d like or as imaginative as they can be.

Have fun with glitter slime and explore sensory play. To make a batch of glitter slime, combine ⁄2 cup (120 mL) of glitter glue with ⁄2 cup (120 mL) of liquid starch. Stir the two ingredients together until they start to combine, and then knead the mixture with your hands. Mix in small figurines, letters, beads, or other small items to create a sensory experience for little hands. If you do add small items to the slime, be careful that no one puts the slime in their mouth and chokes on the small pieces. You can buy liquid starch from the grocery store—it’s in the laundry aisle. Store the glitter slime in an airtight container once you’re done playing with it.