It’s Day number 2 of 31 Days of Fall Activities With Your Kids. My 5-year-old daughter and I made fridge glitter magnets for displaying her artwork and various other school related papers on the refrigerator. DIY Simple Glitter Magnets Your Kids Can Make is a great activity to do with your kids.
This activity teaches your kids
- to be creative
- work with fine motor skills
- use glitter and glue
Not many kids can resist that.
I have a pretty good stash of art supplies on hand, so I just headed to the craft room and pulled all of our supplies out. The first thing I do is pull out a plastic table clothe to cover our kitchen table with. With this project, we decided to test a variety of glue types to see which worked best. I pulled out all of the glue varieties I had. Elmer’s School Glue, Elmer’s Clear Glue, Hot Glue, Glue with glitter, Glue made just for Glittering, and Hot Glue.
Supplies
Glue You can use Elmer’s, Hot Glue, Glitter Glue, Glitter-It Glue, or Clear Glue.
Strong Magnets – We used ceramic crafts magnets with a strength of 6, perfect for this craft.
Glitter
Table Cloth
Apron or old clothes for you and your child
Directions
Step 1
Cover your table with a tablecloth to protect the surface.
Step 2
Cover one side of the magnet with glue. This will probably require an adult to do, depending on your child’s age and skill. My daughter could not squeeze some of the glue hard enough to get it out. Make sure to spread it evenly and remove air bubbles. If you are using the glue that has glitter in it, you can skip the next step.
TIP: Keep your magnets spread apart, away from each other. If you do not, they will pull together as your work with them, which will result in a big sticky mess.
Step 3
Sprinkle glitter evenly over the magnet, It’s ok if you put too much glitter on it, you can blow the excess off. If you use a hot glue gun make sure to sprinkle the glitter on quickly before the glue dries.
TIP: Place a piece of printer paper under your magnet to help collect the excess glitter. You can then pour the extra glitter back into the original bottle. My daughter and I put all of our glitter in one container creating a mixture of colors.
Step 4
Let your glitter magnets dry overnight. You may have some loose glitter after your magnets dry, just brush the loose glitter free and your magnets are ready to use.
Glue Results
Below are the results of each glue we used with photos and a short description.
Glitter Glue
Using glitter glue was the simplest method. The results are not nearly as sparkly, but still pretty. I really liked the simplicity of using glitter glue!
Elmer’s School Glue
These came out really pretty and I’m pretty impressed that this simple glue had great results.
Clear Glue
I really liked how these turned out! These are probably my favorite because they are so glittery!
Glitter-It! Glue
I’m not sure why this one did not work out so well, but the glitter flaked off of one of our magnets the next day. I guess it was not really made to work on outer surfaces.
Hot Glue
Hot glue was not my favorite. It is not kid friendly at all, it also dries way too fast, however with some practice you could make it work
Conclusion
We had a lot of fun glittering our magnets and making them extra sparkly and pretty. I think the prettiest magnets were with the Elmer’s Clear Glue. Our easiest method was the Elmer’s Glitter Glue. Pick your favorite or what you have on hand and give it a try!
To follow the rest of our series, click below 31 Awesome Fall Activities With Your Kids
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