How to Make Glitter Paint

 

E enjoys painting very much, and we love to try out different kinds of homemade paint. This glitter paint was inspired by Learn Play Imagine’s Confetti Paint, and only uses three ingredients!

  

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

(E was 3.5 years old.)

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To make glitter paint, you’ll need:

 

 

 

E squeezed some hair gel into three little applesauce cups, then added glitter in three colors of her choice. {I gave her two little capfuls per color to control the amount that went into the cups but mostly to make sure not too much ended up outside the cups 😉 }

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

She initially didn’t want  to add the liquid watercolors, and the paint looked good in the cups and on her paintbrush

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

but when she started painting the poster board we’d set out, she was disappointed.

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

She tried to make the glitter paint more vibrant by pushing down harder on her paintbrush and going back and forth several times but that actually had the opposite effect, spreading the glitter particles out more and diluting the effect further.

I suggested trying the liquid watercolors after all, and E agreed to give it a try. We used the colors that coordinated with the glitter she’d picked: blue, magenta and gold, and added just a few drops of each color. 

 How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

 Now the paint started looking much nicer!

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

And while it did benefit from more of a light-handed application

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

it still looked very nice in a preschooler-style painting 🙂

 

How to make beautiful glitter paint with three simple ingredients!

 

The paint didn’t come out as glossy as I’d thought but definitely very glittery {the photos don’t really do it justice}. The hair gel does a great job keeping the glitter on the paper as well, it doesn’t come off easily at all.

If you prefer, you can add more of the liquid watercolors to make the glitter paint even more vibrant.

 

 

 

Have you tried homemade glitter paint? What’s your favorite kind of paint? Leave a comment!

 

 

 

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11 Comments

    1. Thank you, Emma! The hair gel really makes an awesome base for homemade paint! I personally don’t have a huge problem with loose glitter (probably because my daughter is usually very careful with it) but I can see how keeping the glitter contained makes for a more relaxed painting activity 🙂

  1. It’s beautiful! How is it when it’s dry? I’m wondering if my buddies make something like this, how will it be for storing in an journal? Or would we be better off using it on our outdoor canvas as a temporary artwork?

    1. Thank you, Suzanne! The hair gel does lock the glitter down nicely but it will rub off if it gets handled too much. So while I wouldn’t hesitate to use it indoors and hang the artwork on the wall or even place it in a folder for storage, I think it might be a bit too fragile to keep in an art journal that gets handled on a daily basis, pages rubbing together, etc. I hope you have fun trying out this paint recipe!

  2. I’ve done this with my 3 year old class on 2 different occasions. The first we did it as directed with the food coloring, the second time with out it. We noticed that with out the added colorant, to us at least, the glitter shined more and the colorant bled on to the paper less so it looked like they literally just painted with the glitter which the kids seemed to enjoy more saying that it looked more magical and sparkly.

    Either way you decide to do it though, it’s a wonderful idea. Defiantly allows you to bring glitter out for an invitation to play with out the ‘stress’ or ‘worry’ of your classroom or house being covered in glitter for the next two weeks. Thank you for sharing! 😀

    1. Thank you, Jasmine! I’m glad you enjoyed your glitter paint so much. I personally liked the plain glitter version, too, but my daughter thought it needed a bit more color 😉

  3. Can I use the paint glitter as a hair paint?

  4. This looks so fun! I can’t wait to try it this week with my playgroup! We’re painting on a print out and I was looking for some inspiration for a sheer paint that will allow the words to show through when painted over 🙂