Have you ever seen sensory bottles? If so, surely its colors and the diversity of its materials have caught your attention.
Sensory bottles are an ideal resource to awaken the curiosity of the little ones and stimulate their senses, especially sight and hearing.
They are also very easy and inexpensive to make, you just need a little imagination. Babies will be delighted with them and the older ones can help you prepare them. Surely you will have a very entertaining and fun time.
What are the benefits of the game with sensory bottles
- Development of fine motor skills when picking up the bottles.
- Enhancement of language. We can talk about what is inside the bottles, imagine stories, explain things, etc.
- Social development. Children love to share experimentation material and their discoveries.
- Visual education. They will learn to look for things in bottles.
- Auditory education. They learn to listen to different types of sounds.
- Development of attention and concentration.
How can I make my own sensory bottles
- First you have to wash the bottle.
- Put the material inside. You can use one, two, three or whatever you want but try not to get too overloaded.
- When you have already put everything (material, toys, liquid) the cover and seal the cap with hot silicone so that there is no risk of opening.
List of possible materials
- Hard and clear plastic bottles (can be recycled). We can use almost any size of bottle. If they are for a baby, I recommend the 200 ml ones since they weigh less and are easier to handle.
- Glue gun to seal the bottle caps. You can also use strong glue. Make sure the bottles are well sealed.
- Solid materials to fill the bottles. Plastic animals, pipe cleaners, buttons, colored clips, pompoms, transparent colored pearls, magnets, shells, marbles, iron pearls, colored rubber bands, legumes, rice or pasta (they can be colored in color), seeds, sand and a very long etcetera. As you can see, the possibilities are endless.
- Liquids: water, transparent glue, corn syrup, baby body oil, liquid soap, glycerin, alcohol, etc.
- To decorate and dye You can use glitter, metallic confetti, and food coloring. Fat-soluble food coloring is the best to dye the oil.
How to make sensory bottles for visual stimulation
- Liquids different densities. Put water dyed with one color food coloring into the bottles halfway. Mix the baby body oil with the fat-soluble coloring of a different color. Add it to the bottle and voila. Moving the bottles will mix the colors and a new one will appear. A few minutes later the two colors will separate again as if by magic.
- Shining in the darkness. Use phosphorescent figures and fill the bottle with water. Surely your child wants to be in the dark all the time to see how it shines. Assured success!
- Play with bubbles. Fill the bottle with water, dye it with food coloring and add a little detergent to create bubbles and foam.
- The sea in a bottle. Fill a third of the bottle with water, add blue food coloring, and fill the rest with baby oil. You can add shells and fish or figures of marine animals.
Sensory bottles for auditory stimulation
Fill the bottles with objects that produce noise when shaken and the bottles will transform into maracas that will delight your child.
Sensory bottles for olfactory stimulation
For these bottles you have to make small holes in the cap and use scented materials so that your child can play to discover the different smells. You can use coffee, cotton soaked in cologne, lemon, tangerine, thyme, lavender, etc.
Themed Bottles
The four Seasons. You can make a bottle for each season.
- Spring. Fill the bottle with plant seeds, dried flowers, bird food, and small leaves.
- Summer. Use dried parsley, bee and butterfly figurines, plastic flower petals, and dried lavender flowers.
- Fall. Dye the paste green, yellow, and red. Add small pinecones, dried leaves, acorns or typical fruits of this season.
- Winter. Fill with rice, glitter, white and red pompoms and figurines with Christmas motifs made with eva foam.