I’m not a big fan of glitter. Yes, it’s pretty and my kids love it but did you know that it’s made out from tiny bits of ground plastic? Plastic takes a long time to biodegrade, whether cut into tiny pieces or not. So, I wondered how my children could enjoy the similar effects of glitter without buying it from the shops (and having glitter forever in our under covered area). Making our own biodegradable glitter was the answer.
Make your own biodegradable glitter
I didn’t have to look far because I found alternatives all around us. Best of all, they look beautiful, are vibrant natural colours, smell great and are an excellent replacement for the real thing! Have I mentioned this eco friendly glitter is free?
Collecting nature’s glitter can be just as fun as using it in craft. Make a day of it by searching your local forests, gardens and bushland reserves. Here’s what we collected, hopefully you have similar flora to help you make biodegradable glitter too!
Red Bottlebrush Flower
Cadaghi Flowers
After researching the flowers I collected, I found that the Cadaghi tree is classed a weed in Australia. As as a result, it’s important to collect them in a bag that will minimize the risk of spreading seeds.
Fine red Sawdust
Sweet Wattle Leaves
Lilly Pilly Flowers
It didn’t take the girls long to open the little containers with nature’s glitter and scatter it on their artwork. In fact, I actually think they had more fun because they felt the different textures from the contents of each bottle fall through their fingers. They seemed to take extra time with the material too and once I’d suggested they smell it, they tried every single bottle. There was a lot more interaction with the material than regular glitter.
Our eco friendly, biodegradable glitter was a hit!
It may not shimmer and shine quite like its plastic counterpart but it still creates quite a beautiful collage of colours and textures on the page. Being biodegradable, it’s most certainly much better for the environment too!
Extended learning
- Research the history of glitter
- Research native flora in your local area
- Create more nature craft
So very cool Penny. This is my kind of glitter.
Thanks Kate, oh yes it’s my kind of glitter too. I’m incredibly inspired by nature at the moment. I’ve been doing so much bush craft lately I should be calling it bush craft for kids. lol
This is gorgeous and what a brilliant idea! Love love love it 🙂
Thanks so much Rachel. I’m hoping to see lots of little people making their own nature’s glitter in the near future!
I can’t tell you how excited and inspired I am by this simple, natural and beautiful idea! Shared, pinned and mental note taken:-)
Oh Anna, it’s comments like yours that also inspire me to keep posting. Thank you for taking the time to comment and for sharing too!
Great post, Penny! What an awesome idea and we love collecting bits of nature during our bush walks, so this will add some purpose to our collecting 🙂
Thanks Amie, I’m so glad it will send you off on a little treasure hunt for additions to your own Nature’s glitter!
That’s a seriously beautiful idea Penny, I’m going to make some of this with my kids for sure 🙂
One word: LOVE!
What an awesome idea!! We are SO going to be making our own ‘glitter’ from now on.
So beautiful! I absolutely LOVE it! Those lily pilly flowers are better than any glitter I’ve seen! 🙂
Penny, I really love this. I stopped using glitter a while ago because of the environmental impact, and I’m so glad to see this idea. I never thought of it. Thank you!
Yay Erica. I don’t think I’ll ever buy glitter again either. This is so much better. Thank you so much for sharing this on G+ and coming here to comment. xx
Such a beautiful idea. I am very excited to show your post to my children as I think they will be very inspired to make our own “glitter” too. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful idea.
Thanks so much Elise! We had a lovely time. We now always collect bit and bobs for our nature’s glitter and the little jars sit in our Nature box. Can you tell we love nature craft?
I like the way you think… This is it, so cool! and very creative LOVE it!
YOU ARE GENUIS!~
Me too – never liked glitter. I always felt like wasting…
Nature glitter is perfect for us!
Thanks
This is such a lovely idea, Penny! I, too, am not a fan of glitter. I love the sparkle and the colors, but not the plastic.
Thanks so much Trisha! You know what, the sparkles are cool on real glitter but there’s something more magical about glitter from nature. I dunno. It just looks beautiful whenever we use it
Oooh I hate glitter… and this is such a COOL option!!!
this is a brilliant idea & your photos are stunning. love it
just stopping in to let you know we are planning to do this today 🙂
Love these ideas! Thanks for giving us sustainable alternatives to glitter.
Hope that someone still reads these as I just came across this and sounds great to do. I live in the Arizona desert and wouldn’t have a clue where to look or what would be safe to use.