Discovery Bottles (K – O)

K is for kid-friendly Toys

You can fill a discovery bottle with any kind of kid-friendly toy but you have to look for items that are small enough to fit into the opening of your bottle.  Often times, you can find small items in the party supply section of a store…

Above is an alphabetical list of store-bought type of kid toys or kid-friendly materials that can usually be found in some type of mini-form and will work well for play and exploration (some items you may want to add water or other type of liquid and for others, you may not)…

L is for light

Discovery bottles are always better to observe on a light table or in a window. I always keep a set of discovery bottles near my light table…

The light table has a way of capturing the children’s attention to new properties of the discovery bottles. The children will often take more time to notice color, movement, bubbles, and other qualities of the discovery bottle when they can view it on the light table.

Hop over to see the Lava Lamp for kids sensory play by Cathy at the BabyCentre Blog

M is for Magnifier

Be sure to add other tools for play to your discovery bottles that invite additional types of play and exploration. Items like a magnifying glasses (for closed bottles), tweezers (for open bottles),  scales, clip board and pencils, and anything else you can think of that invites the children to go past the obvious and will bring a new dimension of play with the bottles….

and M is for Magnetic

Another fun way to add a new dimension of play to the discovery bottle is by adding magnets and magnet wands.  In this discovery bottle are pipe cleaners. The wire in a pipe cleaner is magnetic although you will want to keep the weight of the pipe cleaner very light so the magnetic wand can easily pick it up and move it in the bottle…

See this Magnetic Pumpkin discovery bottle by Child Central Station

N is for Nature

Don’t overlook the many wonderful items from nature that can be added to a discovery bottle. Think of the discovery bottle as a hands-on aquarium or terrarium that young children can hold, shake, and examine….

Again, the items from nature you choose to place in the bottle may go well with or without water. It all depends on the items but since this is all about exploration, I say just go for it and see what happens…

O is for Oil

Oil is often used in liquid discovery bottles because of the way water and oil separate. Here are a few things to consider when adding oil to your discovery bottle…

• Baby oil is clear and I like to use it over other oils like cooking oil. But all oils will separate from the water.
• If you add color, the color will not mix with your oil, it will mix with your water.
• It is better to have more oil than water in your bottle if you are wanting the colored water to wash down through the oil.
• The water will always sink to the bottom of the bottle and the oil will always end up on top of the water.

Ocean in a Bottle

Come back tomorrow for more tips and examples of discovery bottles or hop on over the the ABC’s of Discovery Bottles landing page!

More ABC’s…

Be sure to check out the ABC’s of Mom’s Tips and Tricks by my fellow bloggers (shown below)…

MOM TIPS & TRICKS:

• Being a Hands on Mom from hands on : as we grow
• Connecting with your Kids from One Perfect Day
• Family Field Trips with Kids from Edventures with Kids
• Fun Healthy Snacks for Kids from Juggling with Kids
• Kids Party Ideas from Mama Pea Pod
• Mama Survival from The Dizzy Mom
• Organized Home from Mamas Like Me
• Printables from Mama Miss
• Raising Boys from Boy Mama Teacher Mama
• Raising Eco-Friendly Kids from Kitchen Counter Chronicles
• Raising Girls from Mess for Less
• Raising a Healthy Kid from Living Life Intentionally
• Raising a Thinking Child from The Outlaw Mom
• Raising Toddlers from Home Learning Journey
• Raising a World Citizen from All Done Monkey
• Simply Celebrating Holidays as a Family from Inspired by Family Magazine
• Teaching Kids about Money from Carrots are Orange
• The Family Dinner Table from Connecting Family & Seoul
• Trying A New Experience with Your Children from 52 Brand New
• Values for Children from True Aim Education