Homebound Activities: Discovery Bottles

I am a HUGE discovery bottle enthusiast at the school I teach at. To the point they started piling up at kids homes and parents started subtly mentioning how many their children had accumulated ( roughly one a month). Needless to say I've cut back at school, however with my own child not so much. Granted, we don't keep them around as long as I think these other parents do. Also, when we do make them we put them in different locations. For instance, we keep one in our daughters "busy bag" for when we travel or visit places( Dr.'s office, dentist, bank, restaurants, etc.), one in the back seat to keep her attention when we are long car rides, one in her bedroom for bedtime and one in her playroom. I know at my parents house they keep one just to have something on hand to keep her occupied. We've tried all kinds of different approaches. We've tried oil and water with food coloring, orbeez, glitter glue with water and food coloring , colored rice or sand with small toys, letters and numbers to find. The key to the sensory bottles are that you super glue or hot glue the lids to the top. Otherwise, you can easily have a large mess on your hands. These are easy to make with stuff you have at home. I find only small toys are the best for these projects and it can be ANYTHING that fits in the bottle neck. I like the Voss water bottles since they are nice and wide at the top and are perfect cylinders, but you can repurpose any clear water bottle ( I suggest plastic for little ones). The possibilities are endless and you and your little ones have fun making them !