by J. Ryan

Created on: May 08, 2010

What is that famous material that young children love, teachers know well, and some parents fear?  It's good ole glitter! 

Glitter is a key ingredient in many different types of activities for young children and has many uses.  It adds fun, color and sparkle to some otherwise dull art projects, enhances imaginary play and spices up sensory activities.

Glitter can be used with any art project

Glitter can be used with virtually any art project parents and teachers wish to create alongside children.  Glitter can be sprinkled across paint or glue to create a sparkle effect (for example, decorating a night sky or galaxy painting or a sparkly rainbow).  Children love to use glitter to make their paintings sparkle and shine!  As an added bonus, using their fingers to pinch and spread the glitter across their art projects helps develop fine motor skills.

Glitter encourages and enhances imaginary play

Glitter can also be a useful tool in promoting imaginary play with young children.  For example, try painting or gluing glitter on an old paper towel roll.  When the roll is dry, children have an instant magic wand to play with.  Similarly, adding glitter to pre-cut star or moon shapes can result in a wonderful classroom galaxy for children when they are hung from the ceiling!  Another idea is to help children turn a simple object like a rock into a magical toy by simply adding glitter to it (paint the rock first, then sprinkle glitter on).

Glitter enhances sensory play

Sensory integration plays an important role in early childhood development.  Parents and teachers can add glitter to basic sensory activites such as water play and sand play.  To create an engaging sensory activity using glitter, try placing a roll of aluminum foil at the base of a sensory tub or water table, sprinkling glitter on the foil and pouring water over it.  This will create an instant sparkling water tub that will keep young children entertained.  Parents and teachers can also try adding glitter to sand tables and sensory bottles (try mixing it with water and cooking oil in plastic bottles) to create an attractive new sensory activity.

Glitter is one of the most attractive substances to young children and has many uses in early childhood education.  Parents and teachers can use glitter to enhance art projects, encourage imaginary play and spice up sensory integration activities.  With so much to offer, who can resist using it?

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