Discovery Bottles

Discovery bottles! When I discovered this idea on Pinterest a year and a half ago, I knew it was something that we had to do. There are several other ideas provided on Laguna Preschool's site, but here is what we decided to do!

The first step is to collect a bunch of Gatorade bottles. They are made of a heavy plastic and are very durable. We collected the majority of the bottle ingredients from the dollar store and my cabinets.

I used: hair gel, body wash, oil, sand, decorative glass rocks, water beads, food coloring, dish soap, glitter, water, erasers, pom poms, shiny Easter grass, paint, beans, tissue paper, bouncy balls, scrabble letters, sequins, rice, Styrofoam balls and hot glue.

I got all the items together and sat down at the kitchen table together with Rainbow Brite and created! After each bottle was created, I made sure that the lid and bottle top was dry and hot glued them shut.

Now, a year and a half later, we still LOVE our discovery bottles and use them often for organizing, counting and light table play. 

Some of the bottles have changed slightly in that period of time, but must of them have aged very nicely. Here is our collection. We still plan to make more some day and Rainbow Girl comes up with ideas all the time.

Here is the glitter collection. First bottle: hair gel, glitter, pom poms. Second Bottle: hair gel, glitter, sequens. Third  bottle: water, pom poms, glitter. Fourth bottle: body wash, water, water beads, sand, glass rocks. Fifth bottle: tissue paper, glitter, glass rocks. Sixth bottle: water, small amount of hair gel, glitter, shiny Easter grass. The kids love watching the glitter move differently through out the different bottles.

Water Bead bottles. I was unsure how these would hold up!  When we make water beads in the water table, they eventually break apart over time- likely due to the help of a certain two year old. These beads have held up very well. I used the same type of beads in each bottle (different colors) and we found it neat how different liquids changed the growth of the beads. First bottle:  body wash, water, water beads, sand, glass rocks. (The beads did not grow as big as usual.) Second bottle: water, hair gel, water beads. (The beads grew to usual size.)

Density bottles. These are some of my favorite. They all have the same amount of rubber bouncy balls, but different liquids. First bottle: oil, second bottle: hair gel (with a little water, they wouldn't move at all with just hair gel), third bottle: water.

Themed bottles. Both bottles have different mixtures of hair gel, water and body soap. One has monkey erasers and the other has flower erasers.

Graduated Rainbow Bottles! These bottles are great for putting in order of less to more or more to less. They are simply made with water and food coloring.

Dry sound bottles. First bottle: scrabble letters, glass rocks, small strips of tissue paper, rice, sequins. Second bottle: rice, sequens. Third bottle: glitter, tissue paper, glass rocks.

This one was Rainbow Girl's idea. It has definitely changed since we made it, but is still fun to play with. It is Hair gel and beans!

Bubbles! This one is water and a small amount of dish soap.

Beach bottles! First bottle: sand, water, blue food coloring. Second bottle: sand, water, orange food coloring, glass rocks.

Oil and Water. The first two are oil and water and food coloring. The thirds is oil and water and tempra paint.

Sink or float? First bottle: Styrofoam balls, glass rocks, water. Second bottle: water, glass beads, small bit of dish soap. 

Sorting the bottles by color and type.

Here they put away are on our lovely shelf.

Have you made these? What different ideas did you use?