Glue Bottles!!

What they don't teach you in college is A LOT! :)

I despise liquid glue. The kids don't close them all the way, glue leaks, they use too much, and the clogging!!!  Well, I'm talking to my BFF (who teaches 1st grade) and she says she put petroleum jelly in her glue tops and had NO clogging all year.  Wow! That's something worth trying.

At the TEKS Conference, I took a foldable class. It was taught by one of Dinah Zike's trainers, Nancy Wisker. She was AMAZING. She had a tip of using the tiny bottles for primary learners because they are easier to grip and easier to control the flow of glue. She had also used one of those silicon holders for the antibacterial lotion on her lanyard and stuffed one of these glue bottles in it instead. GENIUS! She taught me a cute phrase to use with the kids as well: "Yaba Daba Doo, too much glue!"  Cute, right?

So there are all these great tips out there and I'm going to share them with you!

I bought 24 1.25 oz bottles from Dick Blick Art Supplies.  They cost me about .82¢ each. Another great tip from Nancy Wisker.

Materials

Gather your materials:

Glue Bottles
Pliers
Petroleum Jelly
Cotton Swabs
Duct Tape (optional)

The first thing I did was cover my glue bottles with the fun duct tape. I love duct tape. It helps identify which bottles are mine. :)  I also cover my computer accessories in duct tape as well.

Next, you open the orange glue bottle top as far as it goes and use the pliers to help you pull straight up. They just pop off! It's amazing. 

I have heard that some are able to just pull them straight up; I am not that talented so I used the pliers. You'll be thankful for the pliers when parts of your hands and fingers are all slippery from the petroleum. 

I used cotton swabs to rub a thin layer first on the inside of the tops and then put in a glob of jelly in each top. After, I popped the tops back on the bottle. This was fairly easy and then turned and closed them shut.

I also add a healthy amount to the inside cap threads since I will be opening and refilling these bottles periodically.  I twisted the tops back on tightly and kept on rolling until they were all done.

I am hoping for smooth gluing at least half the year. Actually, I'm secretly wishing that they last the whole year, but if I only have to redo this at break...I will be in heaven.  

I'm so happy to find these solutions/experiments so that we can do foldables, interactive notebooks, and art experiments with little heartache and headache.  I made glue sponges last year (read all about it on Kinder Smorgasboard) and they worked like a dream, but they have to share with someone else and I might still use those in my writing center or for larger art projects.

Here's the finished products. :) Excited and pumped to get the creativity flowing. I hope some of you consider doing these fun and easy project yourselves and we'll all have less sticky years of gluing to come!

Love, Jessica