DIY Nature Inspired Sensory Bottles for Toddlers

Since simple 3-ingredient glueless sensory bottles were a hit with Gwen, I decided to make her more sensory bottles to explore different natural environments in a bottle.

It just so happened that I came across the perfect bottles to use - VOSS artesian plastic bottles! They have a lovely rounded cylindrical shape, with super easy to peel off product labels. I got them from Amazon Go in Seattle. There are 2 versions, glass and plastic, and I picked plastic so it's safe for toddler hands.

(If you can’t find VOSS bottles and face the challenge of removing sticky residue from product labels of other plastic bottles, try applying peanut butter then resting it for a while before washing off.)

Nature Inspired Sensory Bottles for Toddlers!

I made 3 ocean, garden and forest themed sensory bottles to show Gwen diverse natural environments.

Ocean Sensory Bottle

I used the following materials in the bottle:

• Blue coloring infused water for the ocean (just 3-4 drops)
• Silver glitter (half a small bottle) that imitate the glittering surfaces of ocean surfaces when sunlight bounces off them
• Small sea shells from Michael's

You can also add plastic sea animal figurines!

Forest Sensory Bottle

I used the following materials in the bottle:

• Green dyed rice grains for grass (They make a wonderful rattling sound when the bottle is shaken)
• Plastic figurines of bugs and insects
• Wooden twigs
• Dried leaves
• Small pine cones

You could also add wood chips, acorns and hay for variety.

Garden Sensory Bottle

I used the following materials in the bottle:

• Corn meal (To look like flower pollen and produce a sound when shaken)
• Fake flowers
• Bee figurines

Play Experience

Gwen’s eyes couldn’t take her eyes off these new sensory bottles, which are stimulating for the visual and hearing senses!

We spent time talking about the different elements in the bottles and how they can be found in their natural environments.

I’ll be placing these sensory bottles in her play area permanently until she tires of them (and I’ll interchange with the previous glitter bottles i made!)

Benefits of Sensory Bottle Play

• Stimulate the sense of sight and hearing
• Learn about nature, science (gravity!) and colours
• Ease anxiety and calm kids down post meltdowns/tantrums
• Build concentration and focus
• Boost vocabulary and language development (especially when creative adjectives are used to describe the sensory bottles)

To follow Gwen's play adventures, check out @miraculove_sg (Instagram) or A Toddler Activity A Day Facebook Group.