Teaching Mama

playing, creating, and learning at home

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

facebook twitter pinterest instagram googleplus email bloglovin
  • Home
  • About
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact
  • Toddlers
    • Sensory Play
    • Fine Motor Skills
    • Gross Motor Skills
    • Toys
  • Preschoolers
    • Homeschooling
    • Alphabet
      • Printable Alphabet Packets
    • Fine Motor Skills
    • Gross Motor Skills
    • Math
    • Music
    • Reading
      • Book Activities
    • Science
    • Technology
  • Shop
    • Your Account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Printables Club
  • Member Login

How to Make a Sensory Bottle

by Angela Thayer 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.

Have you ever made a sensory bottle for your little one? We made some last January and my kids still love playing with them. If you’re new to sensory bottles, we’ll start with the basics.

What is a Sensory Bottle?

It is a water bottle filled with materials that create a fun sensory experience for babies and toddlers. Little ones can shake the bottle to make the objects move around. Then they can discover what’s inside the bottle by using their sense of sight. You can even play the game I-Spy with them when you introduce the bottle to them.

What materials should I use?

You can use anything from popcorn kernels, feathers, beads, glitter, to water beads. I’ve used Voss Water Bottles and this time I used tall water bottles from HyVee (a local grocery store).  To see some awesome ideas, check out this post!

For the bottles we made, I used these items:

  • glitter
  • buttons
  • sequins
  • beads
  • crayons (with the wrapper removed)
  • colored googly eyes

I also used glue to seal the lids on. I don’t want these bottles opening up!

Making a Sensory Bottle

As you can see, I made 5 bottles with color schemes. I thought this would be a good opportunity for my toddler to work on his colors.

When you shake the bottles up, they look like this…

How to Make a Sensory Bottle

It’s hard to get a good picture of what they look like when you are shaking them, but you can see what it’s like. It would be a good calming activity for a worked-up toddler.

After letting the bottles rest, we saw that some glitter rise to the top and some stayed on the bottom. This was a good activity for my little one to learn how some items float and other sink in water.

Sensory Bottles

Colored Sensory Bottles

Sensory Bottles

To store them, I put them in a plastic bin. In the future, I’d like to display them on a shelf in our toy room. I’ll put that on my to-do list! 🙂

Sensory Bottles in Storage

To find out how to make a neat calm down bottle, visit here.

So tell me…have you made a sensory bottle before? If so, what did you use in it?

Related Posts

  • Floating Hearts Sensory BottleFloating Hearts Sensory Bottle
  • Christmas Sensory BottleChristmas Sensory Bottle
  • Penguin Sensory BottlePenguin Sensory Bottle
  • 12 Sensory Bottle Ideas – One for Every Month!12 Sensory Bottle Ideas – One for Every Month!
  • Sensory BottlesSensory Bottles
  • A HUGE leaf & Sun CatchersA HUGE leaf & Sun Catchers

Sharing is caring!

553 shares
  • Facebook93
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Sensory Play, Toddlers Tagged With: sensory bottles

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

  1. John Deville says

    September 4, 2018 at 10:53 pm

    Hello,
    I really love this idea! What did you use to turn the water different colors? Just the crayons? Also, I noticed in another post that you used glass water bottles – have these been safe in your experience? Any accidents where they fall on the floor and shatter?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      September 6, 2018 at 8:40 pm

      I have only used plastic bottles. Using glass bottles would definitely not be safe. I use food coloring to color the water.

      Reply
  2. Katie says

    April 20, 2017 at 5:11 am

    What glue do you use to seal them

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      April 21, 2017 at 2:47 am

      I’ve used super glue and a hot glue gun. Both work great!

      Reply
  3. AnnaMarie Stuben says

    August 21, 2016 at 11:53 am

    Have you ever used glycerin with watter, coloring and some small toys?

    Reply
  4. Shannon Kemp says

    August 9, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    You mention wanting to store them on a shelf. If you haven’t done this yet, I saw a cute idea someone posted about using a wine rack to store sensory bottles

    Reply
  5. Terah Webster says

    July 2, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Supplies are listed, however, not seeing WHAT THE LIQUID IS IN THE BOTTLE. Noticed others questioning this as well. I’m “assuming” it’s water, Please advise. Thanks in advance.

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      July 2, 2015 at 6:42 pm

      The liquid used in the bottle is just water. Sorry for the confusion!!

      Reply
  6. Natasha says

    June 16, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    These are so cute, I love the vibrant color. I think the glass bottles are probably better then plastic so good idea.

    Reply
  7. Sarah C says

    October 19, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    Hi Angela – I love this idea! What did you use to turn the water different colors? Just the crayons? Also, I noticed in another post that you used glass water bottles – have these been safe in your experience? Any accidents where they fall on the floor and shatter?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      October 28, 2014 at 3:26 am

      I just used colored glitter. I use plastic water bottles so they won’t break! In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever used glass water bottles, but maybe I’m not remembering right! I recommend using Voss plastic water bottles.

      Reply
about teaching mama
sensory play crafts printables fall winter spring summer

Search Teaching Mama

Archives


Copyright © 2023 Teaching Mama · Privacy Policy · Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Teaching Mama on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

553 shares
  • 93

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Teaching Mama
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Cookie Policy

More information about our Cookie Policy