Sensory Bottles

Sensory Bottles

There is so much stuff out there you can buy for your little ones. It’s endless. As much as a lot of this stuff is both fun and educational, sometimes it’s nice to make something for your little ones that requires little time, effort and money. Browsing around Pinterest (a nightly occurrence for me) I came across something called Sensory Bottles. It looked pretty awesome and I knew it was next on my list of things to make for Miss O. Through trial and error I found the Hawaiian Punch single size bottles were the perfect size for Miss O. Many of the suggestions I found on websites were for products only available in the States. As I live in Canada, I had to find another option. Check out the different types of bottled water or juices in your grocery store and choose a size that works best for you and your little one.

Items Required

Small water bottles
Hot glue gun
Water
Various decorative items to float inside

• sequins
• beads
• pom poms
• dice
• any small plastic toys

 Instructions:

Simply fill the bottle about ¾ of the way full with water. Pour in your items of choice. Fill again with water if necessary. Ensure the opening of the bottle as well as the lid are dry. Run a line of hot glue around the opening of the bottle and screw on the lid. This is especially important so your little one can’t open the bottle and accidentally ingest the contents.

I had a few bottles for Miss O and I used the following items:

• Glitter Pom-Poms
• Pony Beads & Jewel Sequins
• Plastic Decorative Rocks
• Sequins & Pearls

I purchased all of the items in the bottles at the local dollar store. Most dollar stores have a crafting and/or scrapbooking section these days. This is the best place to find all sorts of neat little things for the sensory bottles for next to nothing.

Alterations

Another fun thing to do is simply place the items in the bottle, omitting the water and use it as a shaker. Miss O absolutely loves things that make noise when she shakes them so I omitted the water from a couple of the bottles, particularly those with the larger items to maximize the noise! If you prefer to simply make them into shakers then you can use plain old 500mL water bottles. The main reason for using smaller bottles for the sensory bottles is because the water makes them quite heavy.

Andrea

Andrea can always be found with a new craft in front of her, a form of technology on her right and a coffee on her left. This is how she survives suburbia with her two crazy toddlers in tow.

http://www.theinspiredhome.org