Both children and adults will love this Frozen-inspired snowstorm glitter sensory bottle DIY.
Here’s a DIY sensory bottle that will please young and old alike–a frozen-inspired snowstorm sensory bottle–Elsa and Anna would love it! Sensory jars like this snowflake glitter bottle are most often used for mess-free sensory play, as a self-regulation tool to help calm an overwhelmed child, or as a meditation technique for children.
“As the bottle clears–so does the mind.” ~NRK
Calm-down sensory bottles work wonders for adults too! For more information about sensory bottles, including quick and easy DIY recipes, hop over to look at Calm Down Sensory Bottles 101.
Related: Frozen-Inspired Olaf
Related: Glittering Mermaid Tail Sensory Bottle
Frozen-Inspired Sensory Bottle Materials
- Voss bottles, empty craft bottles, mason jars, or any other recycled bottles or jars that will hold water without leaking.
- Blue glitter glue
- Liquid hand soap
- Snowflake sequins — snowflake confetti mix, sparkly snow, silver snowflakes, and/or iridescent snowflakes
- Blue glitter tempera paint or blue or turquoise tempera paint, blue liquid watercolor paint, or food coloring
- Fine turquoise glitter
- 1-quart glass liquid measuring cup or mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Hot water
- Superglue
Related: Soothing Sea Shells Sensory Bottle
How to Make a Frozen-inspired Snowflake Glitter Sensory Bottle
This DIY Frozen-inspired snowstorm sensory bottle is a fun mess-free DIY calm-down toy for kids. Think of it the same way as a giant snow globe craft that can help toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and elementary-aged kids learn how to self-regulate.
Practicing yoga is another great calming strategy for kids. Learn how to get kids started, or look at our favorite FREE yoga videos for kids.
Related: Rainstick Musical Sensory Bottle
Snowflake DIY Glitter Sensory Bottle Video
Watch the video below to learn more about this gorgeous sensory bottle DIY, and scroll down for step-by-step instructions.
DIY Snowstorm Glitter Sensory Bottle Recipe and Step-by-Step Directions
Before starting this DIY project, read through the step-by-step instructions to make frozen sensory bottle crafts, so you know what to expect and understand the steps involved in making them. We also recommend looking at the tips in Calm Down Sensory Bottles 101 before making your first DIY sensory bottle.
1. Gather Materials and Tools.
- Start by choosing and gathering the materials you will use to make a frozen sensory bottle from the list above.
2. Add hot water and glitter glue, paint (or food coloring), and fine glitter to a 1-quart measuring cup.
- First, add hot water (boiling is best) and a good squeeze (about 1 or 2 tablespoons) of blue glitter glue into a 1-quart glass liquid measuring cup and mix well before adding the following two sensory bottle recipe ingredients. (Boiling water makes mixing glitter glue and water easier and also makes using a glass measuring cup as a mixing bowl necessary.)
- Next, add a squirt of blue or turquoise glitter paint, tempura paint, liquid watercolors, or a few drops of food coloring. (Any of these options work to add color to a discovery jar or calm-down jar.
- And finally, sprinkle a pinch of fine turquoise glitter into the frozen DIY sensory bottle mixture.
3. Mix snowstorm sensory bottle ingredients and quickly pour them into a bottle.
- First, allow the mixture to cool enough so that it won’t warp the plastic bottle when you pour the hot water mixed with the Frozen-inspired snowstorm discovery bottle ingredients into it.
- The sensory bottle recipe ingredients will sink to the bottom of the measuring cup as it cools. Use a whisk to remix the ingredients, and quickly pour the mixture into a recycled bottle once it is cool enough.
- But don’t pour the water to the top just yet. You still need to add a few more snowstorm sensory bottle recipe ingredients, and you may need to add a bit more glue, glitter, or paint.
4. Drop pieces of snowflake confetti into the bottle.
- Next, add the snowflake confetti directly into the sensory bottle.
- Several different options are listed in the sensory bottle materials section.
5. Mix a little clear hand soap into the Frozen Sensory Bottle.
- Add approximately 1/8 cup of clear liquid hand soap to the snowflake sensory bottle mixture.
- This works to help slow the movement of the sensory bottle DIY mixture even more (so the large snowflakes swirl and float a bit instead of sinking immediately to the bottom of the bottle) and helps give it a calming effect.
6. Consider adding more of the primary ingredients.
- Determine if more hand soap, glitter, glitter glue, or tempera paint needs to be added to the Frozen-inspired snowstorm calm down jar.
- Pour a little bit of the sensory bottle solution out to make room for more of this or that if needed.
7. Top off the sensory bottle.
- Add warm water, clear glue, glitter glue, or liquid hand soap to the snowstorm sensory until the glitter mixture reaches the top of the bottle and starts overflowing.
- In other words, if you want the discovery bottle mixture to move faster, add more water, and if you want the calm down jar recipe ingredients to move slower, add more clear liquid hand soap, clear glue, or glitter glue into the mix.
- Next, put the lid on, and give it a good shake.
8. Glue the lid of the calm-down jar shut. (optional)
- Once you are happy with how your Frozen-inspired snowstorm sensory bottle moves and flows, use super glue to glue the cap on and pass it over to the kiddos. Unless you are keeping it for yourself, of course. 😉
- The glue helps ensure kids don’t open the bottle to drink it or pour the contents all over the house or classroom, but it is optional.
- We don’t glue bottles shut any more because everyone in our household knows how to handle them safely, and sometimes the bottle will begin to suck in and create an indent. So not gluing the lid makes it possible to open the bottle to add a bit of air to remove the dent. But please use cation when you open the snowstorm discovery bottle.
Related: Rainbow Galaxy Glitter Sensory Bottle
Snowstorm Glitter Sensory Bottle DIY Tips and Troubleshooting
- Don’t glue the lid onto this Frozen-inspired sensory bottle right away. It’s hard to make changes after the cap is glued on.
- Because we used large snowflake confetti for this Frozen-inspired DIY calm-down bottle, we soon learned that we needed to make the solution more viscous so the snowflakes would float and swirl instead of sink right to the bottom. So we added 1/8 cup of clear liquid hand soap into the mixture. It worked wonderfully!
- If bubbles are at the top of the snowflake sensory bottle, slowly fill the bottle with hot water and allow the bubbles to slowly flow over the side until no bubbles are left in the sensory bottle DIY.
- If we were to make this DIY glitter sensory bottle again, we would avoid regular (non-snowflake) and painted sequins. The paint chips off, which didn’t matter for this bottle because they added more blue chips and color to the mix.
- The problem with sequins is that they tend to stick to the side of the snowstorm sensory jar rather than swirl.
Related: Beaded Snowflake Ornaments
Snowstorm Sensory Jar
WE hope you love this calming tool as much as we do. Focusing on the objects in this Frozen-inspired DIY glitter sensory bottle can help children and adults calm down and focus. You might also enjoy self-regulation strategies for kids.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
More DIY Glitter Sensory Bottles:
- Rainbow Galaxy Sensory Bottle
- Sunburst Glitter Sensory Bottle DIY
- Glittering Mermaid Tail Calming Sensory Bottle
How did you keep yours from getting foamy?
Hi Ashley! My bottles are always foamy when I first make them and shake them up. They can take up to a day to settle. Once settled they never foam up again. If yours do, make sure you take all the air out. I hope that helps!
this is beautiful! It looks like it would be cold to touch lol. I’m new to making sensory bottles, but wanted to make one for each season so hopefully mine turns out as gorgeous as this. I can’t wait to see it in motion
Lol! It does look cold to the touch Kaci, so glad you like it! Sending you all my sensory bottle making ju-ju so it’s just as awesome!
I made some for my 3 year old preschool class who are pretty rough on the bottles. They managed to actually break the caps on the Voss bottles!! Is there something I did wrong?
No Jennifer, You did nothing wrong. Voss bottles can break if thrown around or dropped. This is the only con I have found with them.
Use duct tape or electrical tape on the lid. It helps.
Brilliant solution Kasey! Thank you for sharing 🙂
This is my first attempt at a sensory bottle! I used a bottle that I had at home, but I had trouble adding some items to the solution, because the opening was small. How large is the opening for the VOSS bottles? And what size bottle do you use? The 330 ml size? I thought of adding buttons that I bought for the bottle, but a few of the buttons wouldn’t fit into the opening. I hope I can find the items you suggested for the Frozen bottle!!
So glad you are giving it a try Patty! This bottle is actually one of the most challenging of my bottles to make, but it was my first too 🙂 I use the 500ml Voss bottles. They have a larger opening than most bottles at almost an inch and 1/2 diameter. This is another reason I like to use them. You can easily fit fun items in them like the larger snowflakes. I think you can probably bend the snowflakes just a bit to get them inside bottles with smaller openings. They are flexible but will stay permanently bent if folded too far. Good luck!
Hi I am new to making these but I wanted to make one for my grandson I have all the ingredients in and gave it a shake but everything just went straight to the bottom. So I poured out some water and added more soap and it still will not float just straight to the bottom like rocks! What did I do wrong? Help!
Hello, I’m so sorry it did not come out as you expected. Did you heat the water and mix it with the glue before adding the other ingredients? It won’t work if everything is added all at once.
Hi. I’m planning on making these with kids. I was trying to figure out for how many kids the materials you listed are. Do you have any suggestions?
Besides the bottles and doing the math on the liquids you will need, the rest should be enough? A little glitter goes a long way!
What are your pro/con comments on plastic water bottles?
Sorry for delayed response Rebecca. This is a loaded question for me and why we prefer to use bottles from the recycle bin. We get ours from the recycle bin at my husband’s work because we choose not to purchase plastics. At home, we filter our own water and use reusable stainless steel canteens for our water. Using mason jars to make sensory bottles is another option, but as you know glass can be dangerous if broken!
I like your Frozen sensory bottle much better than Amazon’s.
Thanks for the vote of approval, Pam! We always appreciate hearing when people love our sensory bottles. <3
Will any clear gel hand soap work? I am not finding the particular one listed. Just curious if it makes a difference.
Hi Laura. Any clear gel hand soap should work, yes. The one you use may have slightly different viscosity, so you may need a bit more, or a bit less than mentioned. Good luck!
Can we use blue food coloring instead of tempera paint? Since that’s what we have on hand.
Great question, Pricilla!
Yes, blue food coloring would work perfectly. Put a drop or two in and see if you like the color and add more if needed!