Glitter Bottles and Time Out

One of the things that we have been dealing with lately is Marcus is learning to express himself.  We are working on learning verbs on how to describe how he feels.  So we ask- "does that make Marcus happy- are you sad about this or that".  He is starting to get there but I think that it is going to take a while to get this.  One of the problems is that when he is really frustrated he will hit- and that is something that just isn’t acceptable so we have started to introduce the idea of TIME OUT.

 

So far this hasn’t been all that successful- probably our fault but I saw the Pinterest with this time out bottle and I thought- hey that could be an answer.  It would give us a way to calm Marcus down while he actually did a time out and it would give him a timely method for the time out. 

So I looked at the posts and I was thought- heck that looks pretty easy. I can I got this but it actually turned into a pretty good Pinterest failure- and I will tell you that most of it was my fault.

So here is what I learned:  how to make a glitter time out bottle:

Supplies:

Plastic bottle of some kind:  I tried a few different types and in the end found that I liked the Smart Water Bottle best.  It just seems to have a few advantage.  It was a good size for little hands, I liked that it didn’t have any decorations so it was easy to see.  But you can really use whatever bottle you have in your recycling bin.

Glitter Glue: I tried a few brands but they all worked about the same.  No preference here.  You only need a small bottle (2 oz.) but you will use the entire thing.

Extra Glitter:  You will want extra glitter- We tested several types and found that the extra fine really looks pretties when mixed up.  It also settles best and faster.  I actually let Marcus pick out the glitter to get him involved in the process.  You can add as much as you want.

-           We also experimented with adding bigger pieces of glitter and other shapes.  We really thought that it was fun to add a few of the bigger pieces of glitter- but not too much.

Water Soluble Glue:  You will need to add extra glue.  This needs to be water soluble such as Tacky’s clear glue- it should also be clear so you can see the glitter more easily.  Don’t need a ton of this.

Non- Water Soluble Glue:   This is to glue the cover on the bottle so it is important that it will not leak.  You don’t want to create a bottle that leaks and you don’t want to give your toddler a chance to open it.   I used crazy blue but you could also use a glue gun or a different non-soluble glue.

Water:  This should be an easy one.  You will need water and I played with the temp and found that HOT water worked best creating the best mix.  Make sure you don’t go to hot or you could actually melt your plastic bottle.

Glue Gone: You will want to make sure you clean the bottle really good and remove all of the adhesive.  I used glue gone but use whatever works for you.

Other things you may want to use to make things easier include funnels for pouring water and glitter, a stick to mix it up (I used a wooden chopstick), and paper or paper towel to work on.  Another optional but fun item is to use some food coloring to give the bottles a bit more fun look.

 

Directions:

1. Prep your work area- I laid down newspaper so I didn’t get all over everything.
2. Prep the bottle – remove the label and get it really clean.  I used Glue Gone  for this.
3. Prep your water- Heat it up however you feel appropriate.  I got mine pretty hot but not boiling as I didn’t want to melt the bottle.  Be careful with the hot water as it is pretty easy to burn yourself. The reason you want warm/hot water is that it will dissolve the glue- if the water is too cold the glue will just clump together and it won't work.
4. Add the glitter glue to the bottle-  I did this both adding the glitter glue first and last-  I found that when the glitter glue was added first to the bottom of the bottle it seemed like it was easier to mix.
5. Pour the warm/hot water into the bottle carefully- use a funnel if needed.  You will only want  fill the bottle about 3/4 full at this time.
6. Shake it up (make sure you put the cover on first)......this will be your first view of what this is going to look like.  Once you have the water and glitter glue completely mixed it is time to play with it.
7. Now is when the fun starts.  This when I added more glitter and more of the water soluble glue.  You will want to take  your time here because this is where it is easy to screw it up- if you add to much glue it will slow it down significantly and will cause a long time out.  I was aiming for about 2 minutes so I would shake it up and time it to see how long it took to settle until I got it just about right.  If you are going to add food coloring now is the time it should be added.
8. At some point you need to top it off with more water.  Remember that adding more water will speed everything up a bit.
9. Glue on your top with the non-water soluble glue.

And just like that you are done!

Here is what some of the ones I made looked like-  One the left it what it looked like when after the glitter had settled completely and the right is all shook up.

OK- I know what you are thinking how can a person screw that up-  

Well I did and here are some ways to do that. 

Not Water Soluble

White Glue

• Make sure the glue you add to the bottle is WATER SOLUBLE.  If it is not you will get a giant wad of crap (well glue) floating in the middle of your water bottle- or it might actually attach to the side like an amoeba.  That is the first way I screwed up.
• Once I figured that out I decided to play around and see what else I could figure out.  So I added some not clear tacky glue.  This is where I learned that you really need to stick to clear glue.
• Once again make sure your water is the right temp- too cold, won't mix- too warm, melt the bottle (I won't show you that picture).  
• Don't get too antsy with the additional glue you add.  On the green bottle I made I added way to much glue and as a result that would is about a 10 minute time out.  Oops!! Take the time to mix it up really good as you go so you can make sure it meets your needs.

I will tell you that Luke was amused with the testing I went through while doing this process.  It was actually pretty funny!  Here is a look at some of the samples.

I need to add one more picture- that is of Marcus with his time out bottles.  It turns out he really likes them and they are calming so at this point I am calling it a win!