76) Shaky Bottles (Discovery Bottles)

I have seen lots of cool posts about all kinds of discovery bottles that I thought the Bee and Bean would really like. So on my last trip to Trader Joe's I bought a 6 pack of water bottles. At first I thought we might just make one at a time, but once we made the first one it was so much fun that we
made all 6 in one day! The Bee and The Bean have both been all about these bottles. The first one we made was the glitter bottle, which the Bee introduced to her dad as the shaky shiny bottle and the name stuck in our house. We now refer to all six bottles as the shaky bottle collection. The girls love them, they carry them around the house shaking them. However, their most favorite thing is to play with the whole collection. They line up all the bottles, stack up all the bottles, or even put them in  a bag. I also have to add that I have even found myself playing with them. They are so mesmerizing, it is hard not to pick them up and shake them. So here is the full shaky bottle collection with a little description on how we made each one:

       
1) The Shaky Shiny Bottle:
Fill the bottle with water almost to the top, add glitter and shake. I have also seen this refereed to as a timeout bottle used to help kids calm down. I can definitely see where this would
work!                                                                                                                                                                       




2) The Colorful Shaky Bottle:
Fill almost to the top with water and add colorful beads, we used plastic pony beads. This is one of my favorites. I love the colors and the beads seem so oddly suspended in the water.

3) The Crayon Shaky Bottle:
Shave crayons with a pencil sharpener and add the shavings to a bottle almost filled to the top with water. This one is fascinating to me because some of the colored crayons sink and some float. Perhaps the inspiration for a future experiment!

4) The Shaky Wave Bottle:
Fill the bottle 1/4 of the way with oil and add 5-10 drops of food coloring. Then fill the bottle 3/4 of the way with water. I found this bottle has more of a wave look if you don't fill it all the way to the top.

5) Shaky Water Bead Bottle:
We played with water beads a few months ago but on a recent trip to the dollar store we found the kind that start dry and grow with water. After hydrating the water beads we added some to the bottle filling the rest of the bottle with water. I also added a few drops of food coloring for the contrast. This bottle looks so cool in the sunlight! The water beads look like glowing orbs.

6) Shaky Farm Animal Bottle:
We have had these small plastic farm animals for a long time. They always make me nervous because they are so little I worry about the Bean choking on them, but they were to cool to throw out. They fit perfectly into the bottle. I then filled the rest of the bottle with hair gel (also from the dollar store)

After filling each bottle I ran a bead of hot glue around the inside of the cap before screwing the cap back on. (thanks Anne:)

For more ideas about making discovery bottles check out these great posts:
Kinderfriends
The Crafty Crow
Family Fun
Growing In Peace
Modern Parents Messy Kids