How to make Science/ Discovery Bottles

These are just a few different kinds of Sensory bottle ideas feel free to make your own variations. Only use Gatorade or G2 bottles for the sensory bottles they are a heavier plastic so they hold up better and keep a unison look so everything looks good.

Make sure to ALWAYS seal your bottles securely


Alphabet Bottle
Fill a small plastic bottle with corn syrup (I used hairgel below because I was out of corn syrup, colorful letter confetti and some marbles. Use hot glue to make sure the cap stays on. The marbles add interest and break apart the letters if they clump together.


Mixing Color Bottle
About Four days before needed or as a group, chop small portions of candle wax coloring put them in baby oil (it takes about 4 days to melt into the baby oil). Once the mixture is melted, color water using food coloring. Next add colored baby oil to the bottom 1/2 of the bottle and the colored water the the top 1/2. Seal the bottles and shake. The colors will mix and then separate again and again. Blue and Yellow Works really well
Alternate Method:
Color vegetable oil with powdered tempra and add to a water bottle. Color water with food coloring and pour into the bottle. Colors will mix to form secondary color when shaken, then separate again when undisturbed.
All three pictures are using the second method


Sink or Float Bottle
Place items that are heavy enough to sink in water, like marbles, in an empty plastic bottle.
Place items in the bottle that will float, like straws that have been cut into little pieces.
Fill the bottle with water. Seal shut with hot glue.
Let children perdict what will happen and then shake the bottle vertically, horizontally and upside-down. Children should be able to see which items float to the surface and which items sink.

Snow Globes:
Fill half of the bottle with water and half with corn syrup. Add glitter, beads, paper clips etc. The corn syrup and water mixture makes the glitter fall slowly for dazzling effects.

Rain Bottle
Fill a dry empty bottle with a box of toothpicks. Add rice (uncooked) to the bottle leaving an empty space of about 1 1/2 inches at the top. Seal the lid. As you gently turn the bottle, the rice falls through the toothpicks, sounding like rain.


Swirling Colors Bottles
Spray foam shaving cream into a bottle. Add warm water to fill the bottle. Shake, and watch the foam dissolve. Add more water if needed, till all the foam is dissolved. Add food coloring (one color per bottle). When finished, attach the lids and prepare to be mesmerized as the colors and the white swirl together. The picture does not do it justice this bottle is AWESOME!


Water Bottles vs Dry
Make sets of bottles filled with different things like dried beans, curling ribbon, glitter and tissue paper. In one bottle from each set add water in addition to the beans ribbon, glitter and tissue paper. Observe what happened inside each bottle and record observations over a few days time. Watch the bean bottles and the tissue paper bottles. As the natural gases formed in the wet beans the bottle started to hiss at us. Try water with seashells or water with marbles



Magnet Bottles
1. Rice or confetti with metal objects that will be attracted by a magnet. The kids use a magnetic wand to uncover all the hidden objects. (Be sure to leave room for the rice to move around or the objects will be unable to come to the surface)
2. Fine metal shavings. The students use the magnetic wand with it also.
3. Fill the bottle half full with sand or salt. Add pins, paper clips, and small metallic objects to the sand and shake. Let the children put a small magnet on the side of the bottle and try to find hidden objects by slowly dragging the magnet.
4. Hide in plain site- cut up colorful pipe cleaners into small pieces put in bottle when children run the magnet along the bottle the metal in the pipe cleaners will jump up to show that they really are made from metal. It's colorful and pretty!


Sand Bottles
Sand with seashells and small sea things with and without water
When adding water you can add it just plain or add food coloring like I did to make it blue or any other color you like.


Ocean Wave
1/2 bottle of colored water (mix this part first), add mineral oil or vegetable oil until the bottle is full. Gently rock the bottle back and forth and watch the wave.



Muddy Bottle
Put 1/2 cup dirt or clay (the kind from the backyard) in the bottom of a bottle, and fill it with water. Let the children shake it up and watch the dirt settle. (Try using gravel, peat moss, clay, and different types of soil.) Collect different types of soil and make muddy bottles from them. Label the bottles so the children can compare the different types of soil




Bubble Bottle
Add 1 cup of water, a squirt of dish detergent, and 2 drops of food coloring to the bottle. Shake to make bubbles.


Sound Bottle
Put beans, popcorn kernels, and rice in different bottles. Stick each bottle inside an old sock. Let the children shake and guess what is in the bottles.

Estimate Bottle
Put nuts, pebbles, small shells, dried beans, or other small objects in a bottle. Write the number that are in the bottle on the bottom of the bottle.
Density Bottle
Take two bottles. Fill one with water and one with clear shampoo or hair gel. Add a marble to each bottle, then secure the lid closed. The children can observe how the marbles move through different liquids.


Stress Bottle
Pour clear corn syrup, shampoo, or hair gel in a bottle. Add glitter, sequins, or small toys. The children can hold the bottle and slowly turn it around.

Static Electricity Bottle
Put squares of tissue paper and little bits of Styrofoam in a clean dry bottle. Your students rub the bottle in their hair or on the carpet to see what happens.

Theme Bottle
Put plastic insects, spiders, or worms into a dry bottle. Have a magnifying glass available so your students can get a good look. You could even add dirt to the bottle.You can make this to go with any theme such as the alphabet, animals, ocean for the alphabet just put items that start with a specific letter in a bottle etc.



Googly Eyes Bottle
1/4 full of corn syrup,shampoo, or hair gel, 5-7 or more googly eyes. This is another totally awesome bottle. I like it best with clear hair gel and I put a ton of different size eyes I love it. My picture is not the best it is so much better in person.


Seasonal Bottle
Put autumn leaves, flowers, nuts, or other natural objects in bottles of water. The children can observe the objects as they disintegrate.


Hidden Objects
Fill a bottle 2/3 full with sand or salt or other material below I used small pieces of Tissue paper. Add five to ten small objects to the bottle and shake it. Challenge the children to find all of the hidden objects. I find its best if you attacha card with the hidden items so the kids know what's inside it makes them look harder to find each item.


Gradual Bottles
Take four or five bottles and add different amounts of water in each one, from empty to full. Mix the bottles up, then let the children seriate them from empty to full.

Dice Bottle
Drop dice into the bottle; do not fill the bottle with water. Children shake the bottle, and choose fan activity such as: name the number on the dice, count out that many objects, name the number that comes before or after, write the number, predict what number will come next.

Potpourri Bottle
Do not put cap on instead attach netting with a rubber band cover with a ribbon or twine to hide rubber band, over the top. Fill the bottle with potpourri in flavors such as orange, vanilla, pine, gingerbread, roses, etc. Children describe the scent, or what the scent reminds them of.

Rust Bottle
Add screws bolts or nails to an empty bottle. Fill the bottle with water. Observe what happens, or track how many days the rust developed.


Glow in the Dark Bottle
Add small glow in the dark items such as stars to a bottle. Do not add any water. Children can put the bottle under a box, and look through a hole to observe what happens when the bottle is placed in the dark. Or they can take the bottle to a darkened room, or under a table covered with a sheet.

For Complete instructions on how to make a Jellyfish in a bottle GO HERE

Tornado Bottle
Use Tornado attachment found at Teacher Stores to create tornado in a bottle. These generally have to be made with two 2 liter bottles