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.