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Discovery bottles AKA science bottles are something that I thought would be a fun way to teach my child scientific principle. They are easy to make and are very entertaining.
Discovery bottles:
- Encourage observation skills
- Explore the concepts of predictability
- Explores scientific concepts such of cause and effect and properties of objects
- Improves thinking skills
Having older children help make the discovery bottles can be even more fun and will help them understand the scientific principles even more.
Most of the materials that are put in them I bought at the dollar store. These can be made for very cheap and they will last a long time.
Gel Discovery bottle
-Empty water bottle
-One container of colored shampoo or bath gel
-Things to fill it. I used glitter, alphabet stickers, pipe cleaner, pom poms, and confetti.
I used a funnel to fill it up with the liquids and small items.
Once you have filled the bottle with all it’s contents, you should use a hot glue gun to seal the lid. I just put it around the base and screwed the lid back on. Make sure it is very tight!
This one is thick and the glitter an objects move through the gel very slowly.
Water and Oil Discovery Bottles
-Empty water bottle
-Baby oil (or any other kind of colorless oil)
-Food coloring
-Glitter (I used purple, that is what is making the oil purple)
-Glitter (I used purple, that is what is making the oil purple)
-Contents ( I used the same content as I used for the gel one)
Put in all dry content and then fill the bottle up half way with water and the other half with oil. Glue gun the lid shut.
This one was my favorite because of the way the water and oil resist each other and the way the content mixes between the two. This is fun for babies but would be a great lesson of the properties of oil and water for older children.
Water Discovery Bottle
-Empty water Bottle
-Food coloring ( I used yellow)
-Content (I used blue glitter, blue alphabet letter, white pom poms, and blue pipe cleaner)
This one is very simple. You just add all of your content and then fill it up with water and add your food coloring.
Disclaimer: This should be a supervised activity. Even though the lids are glued shut, they can become loose after time. Make sure to check them each time they are brought out to play, you wouldn’t want baby drinking it or it getting all over your floor!
I need to make those!!!! I know what’s on my to-do list this weekend.
They are pretty cool. You can really experiment with all different kinds of liquid or even put solid beads or buttons in it. By doing just solids that would add to the sensory experience by making noise. I bet your kids would have fun especially your oldest.
We found some cool things online for the girls to make homemade lava lamps with water bottles. We are excited to try that. I am branching out and going to “explore” and let my kids make a mess. lol
That is awesome! Embrace the dark side
I saw the lava lamp ones, they have a lot of awesome ideas for older kids. I am still really limited with the stuff I can do with Isabella.
Discovery bottles are so cool!
Thanks for sharing with my Super Link Party!
[...] everyday experiences they are able to perform experiments to try and understand their world. Click HERE for an experimental [...]
That’s pretty cool
I am glad you like them!