I’ve had lots of sensory bottle ideas floating around in my head for quite some time. Now, I’m not sure if I can stop making them.
These DIY calm down jars (as they are also known) are seriously addictive. Even more so since I made them in my three favorite colors: rainbow, glitter, and glow-in-the-dark.
I’ll give you the step-by-step directions to make your own calm down sensory bottles, listing the materials, tips, and pros/cons.
I had foot surgery at the beginning of June, so it’s been a pretty uneventful summer since. What better way to spend my time than immersing myself in preschool Pinterest projects?
First up: The Glitter Whirl-Swirl Sensory Bottle
To remove the logo from the glass bottle, gently scrub it with a steel wool pad (found near the sponges).
The Glitter Sensory Bottle Ingredients:
• Water bottle (I used glass Voss bottles, basically because they are beautiful. You can use plastic, too)
• Steel wool (to remove Voss logo)
• Glitter (is there such thing as too much glitter?)
• Clear Elmer’s glue
• Food coloring
• E6000 (to glue the lid shut: although I might use crazy glue on future projects)
• Warm water
To begin:
*Shout out to my boyfriend for consuming 2.5 liters of sparkling water tonight!
1.) Fill the bottle 3/4 of the way full with warm water
2.) Add clear Elmer’s glue (I used one bottle, but wish I would have used a bit more. The more viscous your solution, the longer the glitter will suspend.)
3. Add glitter. Lots of glitter.
4. Squeeze a few drops of food coloring into the water.
5. Super glue the lid shut
Watching items suspended in water makes me nostalgic of the semester my college roommate and I kept sea monkeys in a mayonnaise jar.
Pros: Very mesmerizing qualities. You can never have too much glitter.
Cons: I found it a bit challenging to get the water:glue ratio just right.
The Rockin’ Rainbow – Water Bead Calming Sensory Bottle
LOOK AT THOSE COLORS!
The Sensory Bottle With Water Bead Ingredients:
• Water bottle
• Jelly Beadz (assorted by color)
• Funnel
• Super glue
• Cold water
To begin:
1.) Sort your beads by color and put them into bowls (I made the mistake of waiting until they grew to marble-sized, slippery orbs before I sorted them. Needless to say, that decision quickly made it to the cons list).
2.) Add water and wait several hours until they are full-size
3.) Use a funnel to drop them into the bottle, layering the colors as you’d like
4.) Add water to fill
5.) Super glue the lid
Pros: This bottle is absolutely beautiful! It is also super fun to plop the beads through the funnel. This would be a fun bottle to make with kids.
Cons: Sorting them by color can be tedious.
Also, I made my layers too big at first and could hardly fit all six colors in the bottle. Instead, I dumped them out and made my layers about an inch big and just repeated the pattern.
All That Glitters is Glow – Glow in the Dark Sensory Bottle
Materials:
• water bottle
• clear glue
• food dye
• glitter
• glow paint and brush
• glow everything: beads, stars, sticks, etc
Craft fail or craft win? Who’s to say.
To put it vaguely, this bottle was very trial and error.
To make:
1.) Splatter glow paint on the outside of the bottle (optional)
2.) Follow steps to make glitter sensory bottle
3.) Add glow items (I ended up adding a few water beads to mine, too)
Author’s note: If I were to remake this bottle I would use clear hair gel instead of water/glue solution, nix the food dye, and then add my glow-in-the-dark items.
Pros: I love that this glows in the dark!
Cons: The water/glue solution was not very thick, and the beads and stars floated to the top immediately.
And there you have it! 3 easy, fun sensory bottles!
Are you on Instagram? Tag @especiallyeducation in your sensory bottle pictures!
Where did you get the jelly beads? These are So fun and clever!
Hi Tracy!
I purchased the water beads from Amazon (you should be able to click on the link from the blog post). They are ridiculously cheap and the kids love playing with them!
Thanks for checking out the blog! 🙂 See you soon!
You can buy them for really cheap on Wish.com.
I bought mine from Wish.com also!
I found the water beads at Walmart today three something for a 4 oz PKG and a small PKG for 2.19.
Yay! That’s a great price.
As of 2018 I found them in craft section of Walmart for like $3.00, but Dollar tree has clear ones too, if not colored, if you wish to use colored water.
Thank you, Rebbeca!
yes you can buy them on ebay
I just saw some at Wal-Mart in the craft section
Love this! I’ll share my patriotic one when done!
Hi, for the glow bottle, do you mean by using just clear hair gel and food dye? Will that be too thick?
I can’t wait to read all about your great resources!!
Thank you for adding me to your email list so I can look at all of the great resources and ideas you have to share.
Thank you!!
Hello , I think U for this wonderful ideas , I have kids in My Pre K Classroom that hates taking naps at the Daycare I wk at , They dnt have to nap but they must be Quite and stay on their cots , So this is wonderful !!! 😁
<3 <3 <3
If you use clear corn syrup it works much better. About a little more than 1/4 of corn syrup put your stuff in the rest of the way to the top water.
On the rainbow bottle, if you shake it does all the beads get jumbled? Some sensory bottles you shake and watch the glitter, but is there much you can actually do with the rainbow bottle? It’s very pretty and cool looking, just wondering if you can do anything else with it?
Wondering the same
I have made a sensory bottle with water beads before. I put in chuchi nicky glitter and it became a puzzle for the kids to move the glitter from the top to bottom. It was very calming for them
I love this!! Thanks for sharing Elizabeth! <3
Your bottles are amazing!! Great ideas
Hi I love this idea
Thank you so much for these instructions (and the pros and cons are a huge help too) !!! I can’t wait to try this in my class
Awesome i have a question we need to use the elmers glue, what is that its alike normal glue?
I am so doing these with my niece! Quick question…how long do these last? Does the glow-in-the-dark stop glowing so much at some point? Does the glue in the bottle “harden up” over time? Just trying to understand if these will last a while for her to play with…thanks!
Glow beads and other glow products usually glow again when exposed to light for a short time.
Storing your art near a window or other light source during the day will ensure a glow-show in darkness!
This is a great tip! Keep those glowing beads glowing. <3 Thank you, Joyce.
How much clear Elmers did you use in the first bottle?
When I have made mine I use a 16-20 oz. bottle and about 8 oz of clear glue. I use mine as a timer too so for that mixture the glitter will settle to the bottom in about 5 minutes.
That’s a great tip! Thanks Shelley!
I have mentally labored over trying to figure out how to make any of these for a few weeks. Yes, no kidding! I guess I’m craft challenged. I wish I knew someone or that there was a class I could take.
So cute! You said you would use clear hair gel on your next glow-in-the-dark bottle. Would you recommend that for all of them? Or just the glow one?
Thanks!!
I’m interested in this awnser too…
I have used baby oil because it is clear and clear hand soap. However the soap removed the colour off the red hearts glitter. The next time I used marbles. Now that is so relaxing to watch the marbles fall slowly.
did you still add water as well?
You can get sticky from the label off with vegetable oil on a paper towel. That way you don’t scratch the bottle
I cant get Elmers glue is South Australia any other suggestions?
I was at Michaels today and they had bottles for this use for $1.99. Just so you know:)
That is so awesome and fantastic for mindfulness and relaxation. Off to the shops to get the resources. Look sharp store is has all the items I need.
Love this comment, Kayla! Mindfulness and relaxation are important for all ages.
Are these bottles pretty durable for kids to be using? Im just a little worried about handing my kiddos a glass bottle.
You definitely want to make sure the kids are on a carpeted area, and not tile. Thicker glass bottles are safer than thin jars.
Hi I use recycled pop bottles or bubble bath bottles which are plastic.
Great idea! Thank you, Susan.
I got plastic versions of the bottles at michaels
I plan on making these with my residents at an assisted living facility. Can’t seem to find a solid opinion of what the best medium is to use; clear Elmer’s Glue, baby oil, hair gel, hand soap, etc. I want a pretty viscous solution so the objects float fairly slow (remember the old Prell commercials with the pearl floating in the shampoo?). Anyone have suggestions and if you do, what ratio do you use? I have 16 oz bottles.
Hi Dee. I love that you are making these for adults. I don’t have any ratios for you, but hope you’ll come back and tell us about your project! If you post photos, please tag us! #especiallyeducation
Hello I made my 2 sons sensory bottles with baby oil and water then added loom bands, buttons and glitter some reason everything is clumping together any suggestions on what to do ( they items mostly stay at the top)?
Thank you
Hi Katie, I don’t have any tips, but join us on our Made For Me Literacy Facebook Group, and maybe someone there could help. It’s a super friendly group full of lots of good tips!
Can you tell me how long they last? I want to make an Easter one for next year and wondering the life span.
Sorry about your foot surgery, been there myself. Bunion surgery and fused, and then recently two toes tendons cut. Glad I had it all done.
Now questions is with water beads looks like they go to the top, how does one shake it and see them move then or do they still move? I am a little confused and want to make one for my husband. Packer colors and if they mix I guess it is fine, but also like the idea of them all the colors I am using layered but what fun is it if you can’t shake it and see everything moving around? Right.
Also I have heard with the water beads to grow them up with water first and they used baby oil vs water.
You might update a lot of people use Goo Begone. To remove the labels. Myself I found I could just get under it a little and then pull it off. also I couldn’t find anything except glass until I saw an add in the newpaper for Walmart they had them on sale for $1.
I sometimes glue small toys inside the lid and I use plastic peanut butter jars and it’s an awesome snow globe.
What is best to use for things to move slowly? How can I make a glow glitter one as well
umm Michaela Davis how much are all these
water bottle
• clear glue
• food dye
• glitter
• glow paint and brush
• glow everything: beads, stars, sticks
Hi Josiah! It looks like you teach in Uganda, so it would be hard for me to say, but maybe you can search Amazon for prices. Thank you for question!
Has anyone tried glitter glue to see if that made a difference with suspension?