My little guy LOVES his sensory bottles. I started making them for him one day when I realized how much he was enjoying playing with my half-full water bottle.
Sensory bottles don’t need to be anything complicated. His current favorite is this one filled with water, small balloons, and pony beads.
At six months we started with something very basic like these colored water bottles.
Since then I’ve gotten a little more creative. I keep making new sets and changing them out periodically to keep him interested. He loves looking at them and it gets him up close and personal to materials he would otherwise not be able to go near at his age. I try to mix it up a little bit. Fill some with water and other objects, but others I fill with things like pom poms, water beads, or popcorn kernels. When I make the bottles I try to think about the different weights of the bottles or sounds they might make as he plays with them as well as how visually stimulating they are. As C has gotten more mobile they’ve also become good motivators for crawling. He bats at them…they roll away… he tries to go after them!
If you’ve yet to try making sensory bottles for your little ones (babies & toddlers alike) don’t miss out on the fun. There’s plenty of inspiration out there. You can put just about anything in them. Here are a few ideas to get you started!
- Check out these fun & colorful bottles from The Iowa Farmer’s Wife.
- Sometimes its the simplest things that entertain our babes the longest. Mama Smiles
- I love how Famiglia & Seoul made her Four Seasons Discover Bottles travel friendly.
- Hands on as we Grow did a sensory jar soapy activity that any kid would love.
- Check out these fantastic glowing discovery bottles from Growing a Jeweled Rose!
- Carrots are Orange has a great post with a list of ideas to make various sight and sound bottles.
- These I SPY bottles that Living Life Intentionally made are beautiful!
Make sure you read why she made them… great idea! - You will find a ton and I mean a TON if ideas of discovery bottles over at Familylicious!
I love how they used the larger gatorade bottles. I need to try that sometime!
And lastly… (if all else fails)… Just give them the empty bottles 🙂
Our babes has lots of fun with those too!
As with any activity you know your child best. We glue hot glue our caps onto our bottles for a little extra security but always supervise, supervise, supervise, bottle caps and contents can pose a choking hazard.
If you liked this post you will l-o-v-e THIS ONE!
If you are looking for more ideas for playing with your baby check out THIS COLLECTION.
Thanks!! My 10 month old is running already, climbing on furniture and bored with his “baby” toys! These are all such great ideas that will hopefully help keep his interest and have fun 🙂 I appreciate you sharing!!
My little boy loves water bottles, and I love this idea! I am just wondering if you do something to the lids to make sure they don’t come off. I would be afraid he could get the lid off and swallow something. Would love to do this if there was a way to ensure that doesn’t happen! 🙂
I do hot glue the lids on 🙂
Super glue or hot glue the lid on when you’ve filled the bottles! just check them before giving to you little each time to make sure the lids don’t come off
Thank you so much for sharing these ideas! Will definitely make one sensory bottle for my 10-month old daughter! 🙂
This is such a creative idea. Kids are sure to enjoy these colorful sensory bottles. They are safe too, because they are water bottles!
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