Glitter Paint Snowman

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We used homemade glitter paint to make this snowman painting that is the prefect addition to a snowman theme! The nice thing about this snowman craft is that it uses paint and glitter so that the process is a little messy, but super sensory.  The way that we painted our glitter paint snowmen was very fun and a great sensory experience for the toddlers.  Add this to your creative art ideas for more fun!

This, along with our how to paint snow activity are fun winter OT ideas

Glitter paint snowman craft

How to make Glitter Paint

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Make glitter paint for kids crafts

 To make the glitter paint, we started with some white paint in a bowl and a new shower scrub.  You can get a pack of these at the dollar store. 

At this point, you could mix white or iridescent glitter right into the paint and mix it up. We chose to sprinkle the glitter onto the paint, however, for the fine motor benefits of sprinkling.

Next, you are ready to make the snowman craft!

Glitter Paint Snowman

Press a new shower scrubber into the white paint. Then, gently press it onto blue construction paper. You can “build” a snowman by adding three puffs of white paint.

RELATED: To build a snowman with less sensory input or via virtual therapy, try this build a snowman therapy slide deck.

The shower puff was the perfect stamper for our snowman’s body and a great painting tool for toddlers. The Toddlers could grab the shower pouf with a gross hand grasp and smash it right down on the construction paper.

Toddler craft idea using a shower puff to paint.

Big Sister helped out with this craft and was the “teacher”. 

Toddlers can paint with a shower puff for fine motor and sensory crafts.
Sprinkle glitter into paint for homemade glitter paint, great for a snowman craft.

While the paint was still wet, we sprinkled **generous amounts** of clear glitter right onto the paint.  By sprinkling the glitter with your fingertips, kids develop intrinsic hand strength and arch development. It is a similar motor plan and muscle use required for rolling small balls of play dough. You can explore more on intrinsic hand strengthening here.


We used the same technique recently when we made our Fine Motor Snowman Craft.

The glitter stuck right in the glue and the excess was shook off.  Our snowmen were starting to look pretty snowy!

Use a bottle of squeeze glue to help kids develop fine motor skills.

The next step involved Big Sister coming to the aid with her “teacher” duties.  She squirted dots of glue for eyes, noses, scarves, hats, and buttons. 

Next, you will need squeeze glue from a bottle. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I love the use of a squeeze glue bottle over a glue stick for so many reasons. By using a squeeze glue bottle, kids are building refined use of skill areas:

  • Refined grasp
  • Hand strength
  • Eye-hand coordination
  • Arch strength
  • Open thumb web-space
  • Visual motor skills

You can focus on certain areas with use of a squeeze glue bottle by asking kids to place glue onto specific spots. Just use a marker to dot throughout the shape. Kids can then place glue dots on those specific spots.

If working with glue bottles is a helpful activity for the children you serve, you will love the Glue Spots Exercises in the Winter Fine Motor Kit.

All of these were one at a time and because we were doing four kid’s worth of snowmen, she was pretty busy with her little glue assembly line!

Fine motor snowman craft with glitter paint.

Little Nephew was much more sure of himself when it came to squashing the black pony beads into the glue dots.  This was a great fine motor activity for little hands.  I love those little wrinkly knuckles!

Work on fine motor skills with this glitter paint snowman craft.

Big Sister helped to keep everyone on task with the steps.

Fine motor snowman craft with homemade glitter paint.

I cut little pieces of orange felt into carrots for the snowmen noses and tiny felt hats from felt sheets.  The eyes were googly eyes and the scarves were just strips of red felt.  Once everything was glued on, we used a brown marker to draw stick arms.

Cute glitter snowman crafts for preschool and toddlers.

  Our sparkly snowman family looks pretty cute.  This was such a fun craft for multiple ages.  I love how their personalities come out in each snowman, too…with the different sized eyes, the smash of the paint, the sizes of the arms…Big fun!  

Looking for more winter activities designed to build fine motor skills?   The Winter Fine Motor Kit is on sale now!

winter fine motor kit

This print-and-go winter fine motor kit includes no-prep fine motor activities to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, winter-themed, fine motor activities so you can help children develop strong fine motor skills in a digital world.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

 
 
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