Sensory bottles

Easy to make and inexpensive, sensory bottles are directly inspired by Montessori pedagogy. They can be offered to children from 6 months old, but they can also hold the interest of older children.

What are sensory bottles?

The concept is simple: plastic bottles are used to create toys that stimulate curiosity and the development of young children's senses — in particular sight, hearing, and even smell. Simply fill them with various small items you have at home: food, craft supplies, water, aromatic herbs, and so on. The child then plays by weighing, shaking, handling, and gazing at the bottles.

How do you make sensory bottles?

Start by finding an empty bottle. We recommend using smooth bottles, which make it easier to see inside. Then fill it with whatever you like (water, glitter, pompoms, marbles, beads, Hama beads, elastic bands, water beads, rice, pasta, aromatic herbs, etc.). The only limit is your imagination! One handy tip: if you are making bottles with glitter, add some glycerine to slow the fall of the glitter.

Once your bottle is filled, do not forget to secure it by putting glue inside the cap before screwing it on.

Making sensory bottles can in itself be a fun activity to do with children over 3 years old. We have three DIY sensory bottle ideas for you.

DIY - The "Hama Beads" sensory bottle

To make this sensory bottle, you will need:

• Hama beads
• A glue gun

Simply pour the Hama beads into the bottle and glue the cap on! Nothing could be simpler!

This bottle stimulates sight through its many colours, as well as hearing, since the bottle acts as a percussion instrument. We have added a little challenge for slightly older children: there is just one red bead — see if they can find it!

Hama beads can be replaced with water beads, or even coloured rice or pasta.

DIY - The two-phase glitter sensory bottle

As well as being absolutely gorgeous, making this sensory bottle is a wonderful activity to do with older children. It is a great way to introduce the concept of density.

To make this sensory bottle, you will need:

• Water
• Oil
• Food colouring
• Glitter
• A glue gun

Mix the water and food colouring together. Pour the coloured water into half of your bottle. Fill the rest with the oil of your choice. Add the glitter and shake everything together!

Water and oil do not mix, which is why the solution will gradually separate back into two phases. The coloured water stays at the bottom, while the oil floats on top. The glitter remains either in the water or between the water and oil layers. This bottle is wonderful for stimulating sight in very young children. It can also serve as a calm-down bottle for slightly older children (from around 2–3 years old).

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DIY - The galaxy sensory bottle

To make this sensory bottle, you will need:

• Water
• Blue food colouring
• Glitter
• Pink, purple, and blue pompoms
• A glue gun

Mix the water and food colouring together. Cut up the pompoms — the aim is for them not to be round. Insert the pieces of pompom into the bottle, alternating the colours. The bottle should be almost full without the pompom pieces being packed in too tightly. Fill the bottle with the coloured water. Add a few pinches of glitter and shake everything together.

When you shake it, the pompom pieces move slowly, whilst the glitter swirls all around them, catching the light.

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