Sensory Bottles

Sensory Bottles are all over mommy blogs and baby play websites. It is a way for young children to explore materials that would be otherwise be forbidden for being too small, too sharp, etc. Of course, I had to try making some of my own. I really liked the Iowa Farmer's Wife's bottles. They looked small enough to fit in Kz's hands, and had some really appealing materials inside. See?

I made some that were filled with colored water at first. They were simple and straight forward but Kz lost interest fairly quickly so I scrounged around in my craft draws and here's what I found...

Bells! The noisiest of the bottles makes an awesome jingle sound when Kz shakes it. They have a medium weight (which you can alter depending on how many bells you decide to use in the bottle) and a great gold color.

 

 I got the idea to rip up some aluminum foil from The Imagination Tree. Her bottles are also great and she gives a list of different materials to try. Check them out here. When turned upside down, the aluminum makes a gentle shaking sound. It's also really light weight making it a great contrast to the jingle bell bottle.

 

 Obviously there had to be a bottle containing sparkles, sequins and pom poms. Duh.

 

 Feathers! The lightest of the bottles filled with bright colors that float when shaken.

The possibilities with sensory bottles are endless. I will continue to make more and if any are a real hit, I will post them. So far, these four have become fixtures in Kz's toy bin. He shakes them, watches them roll and of course, eats them. They are definitely worth buying a pack of miniscule Poland Spring bottles that you can drink in practically one sip. Oh! I almost forgot. It was such a pain to get rid of the sticky glue that holds the label. I didn't want to buy Goo Gone ( 'cause that would just be too easy) so I tried a home remedy. I used peanut butter. I piled a little on the glue of about 10 bottles and let it sit for a few hours. Then I used the scrubby side of the sponge and hot water to make sure it was all off. To my surprise, this totally worked! But then I got paranoid about using peanut butter on something Kz was going to put in his mouth and I washed the bottles 10 more times for fear of my son going into anaphylaxis while playing with a toy I made for him. 

Maybe you should just go buy the Goo Gone.

First Pom Pom Play

One of my favorite bloggers, Plain Vanilla Mom, loves playing with Pom Poms. She puts them in an easily handled plastic container with maybe a few spoons or measuring cups and her son seems to have a ball. Check out this one of many Pom Pom posts by Plain Vanilla Mom. 

Seemed easy enough. 

The only Pom Poms I had are these crazy, sparkly ones with iridescent strings shooting out all around them. They are pretty awesome. And, oddly enough, while Kz loves putting any and all objects in his mouth, furry things often illicit a prompt look of disgust when he tastes them. I offered one large pom pom as a test and sure enough, Kz put it to his mouth and shuddered. Now that that was established, I poured the rest of the large Pom Poms (the package had some really tiny ones which would clearly not be appropriate for Kz) into a clear bin. He was interested enough at first...

 He touched the Pom Poms, took them out one by one, examined them, stirred them, and piled them in his lap.

 After a few minutes, they were all on the floor and Kz was happy since apparently, the Pom Poms were simply in the way of what he was really interested in; the container.

 

And so, the poor plastic container was sopping wet in a matter of moments, not a Pom Pom in sight.

 

Oh well. Maybe next time.