sensory bottles

I’m on a mission to make a different sensory bottle every month this year and I thought it would be appropriate to make a St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bottle for the month of March. I have to admit that this one is actually my second attempt because the items I planned to put in my first concept were too large to fit through the opening at the top of the bottle.

For this successful St. Patty’s Day discovery bottle, I added items that could fit through the opening in the water bottle. I also used a combination of glue and water so that the items move differently through the bottle.

Materials needed:

• empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid and the shape of the bottle)
• 147 mL (5 oz.) bottle clear school glue
• green glitter
• hot water
• shamrock confetti
• pennies

Adding the glue to this sensory bottle helps suspend the items as they travel more slowly through the liquid. In order to achieve this, start with adding the glue to the bottle and filling it almost the rest of the way full with hot water and shaking it to combine.

VOSS Water BottleGreen GlitterClear Glue

Once the water and glue are combined, add the glitter, shamrocks and coins or pennies to the bottle. Replace the lid and give it a good shake.

This St. Patrick’s Day sensory bottle does contain small parts, so if younger children are going to play with it, you may want to secure the lid by gluing it in place with a hot glue gun.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.

You can see all of our easy-to-make sensory bottles here.

We are currently doing a Solar System unit in our homeschooling. It has been a really fun science unit to work on because there are so many fun hands-on activities that can go along with it. I created a glow-in-the-dark solar system sensory bin for the kids to play with and also made them this Space sensory bottle.

One of the great things about this particular sensory bottle is that it is naturally weighted because of the rocks. This adds an extra sensory element and some children (and adults!) can find this particularly calming.

Outer Space Sensory Bottle:

Materials needed:

• empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid and the shape of the bottle)
• black gravel or black sand as fill
• black decorative rocks
• Space Toob

Safari Space TOOBVOSS Water BottleBlack Aquarium Gravel

I created this discovery bottle in layers because I didn’t want for the figures to all get stuck at the top and it turns out that was the right call. I put a layer of fill, then half a handful of the decorative rocks, then a space shuttle or satellite or astronaut or two and then repeated the process a few more times. Layering the fill and rocks created pockets for the objects from the Space Toob to sit in.

This also created an I-Spy type of element to the space sensory bottle as well. The kids could search for the space crafts and astronauts (and their favourite character, the monkey in space) and find them by turning the bottle different ways.

There is also an auditory feedback element to this sensory bottle as it gets tipped back and forth during play.

This does contain small parts, so if younger children are going to play with it, you may want to secure the lid by gluing it in place with a hot glue gun.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, you may want to sign up for our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.

Every year, we make a themed sensory bin as Valentines Day approaches. This year, I decided to first make a Valentines sensory bottle and once the kids had played with it for a week or two, use the contents as part of the base for this year’s Valentine’s sensory bin.

Valentine’s Sensory Bottle:

To make this sensory bottle, I dyed rice pink by putting rice in a bag, adding red food colouring and a splash of rubbing alcohol before giving the bag a good shake. Once all the rice was dyed, I lay it on a cookie sheet to dry.

Materials needed:

• empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid and the shape of the bottle)
• rice dyed pink or red
• red pompoms
• plastic hearts
• heart and flower shaped beads

VOSS Water BottleRed PomPomsValentine’s Day Heart-Shaped Plastic Gems

Put some of the rice in the bottle and then add some of the pompoms and beads before adding more rice and pompoms and then a few more hearts and heart shaped beads. If you add all the rice before adding the other items, they will get stuck at the top of the sensory bottle.

One of the nice things about using rice in a sensory bottle is that it gives some auditory feedback while kids are playing with it.

When we were done with this particular sensory bottle, we dumped the contents into a bin and used this as a base for our Valentine’s sensory bin this year.

This Valentines sensory bottle contains small parts so if you are going to be giving it to younger children to play with it, you may want to consider securing the lid by gluing it in place with a hot glue gun.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.