I used some pieces of yarn, ribbon, chenille stems bent into shapes, a googly eye, a jingle bell, a flower button, a bead, and some of our colored pasta.
I put it all in a small bottle and filled it with water, leaving about an inch empty at the top. I put hot glue around lip of the bottle and screwed the top on.
Pretty!
Actually, I'm not that thrilled with my first attempt. I put too many things in a bottle too small (the size is great for Little Lady's hands, though). The smaller snips of yarn came apart, which is fine, but all those small yellow threads seem to clog up the bottle. And, duh, the food coloring on the colored pasta soaked off into the water leaving the water a grayish color and the colored pasta a freakish, ghostly white.
I'll do better on my next try. In the meantime, Little Lady thinks it's interesting. At first she was pretty mad that she couldn't get the top off and proceeded to give me her mad rhino face, hand me the bottle, and walk off. Later, however, she sat down with a dancin' ring close by and played with the bottle. It is currently our changing table toy.
My cry for help: If you have any tips about making awesome discovery bottles, I'd love to hear them!
I love the "mad rhino face" description - I can just see it!
ReplyDeleteWe have two favorite types of discovery bottles, both very simple:
1) Fill a bottle with water and add some glitter. Super pretty. Even 8 year olds think this one is cool!
2) Cut up a sponge, and put it into a bottle of water together with some colorful beads. The sponge pieces move more slowly than the beads, and - if you have the right kind of sponge - rise to the top while the beads sink to the bottom.
I blogged about the first one (and described the second one) in this post:
http://mamasmiles.com/?p=1811
And that post reminded me of Emma's third favorite: a bottle of shampoo that was clear, so she could watch the bubble rise to the top over and over. That was her favorite when she was younger, though (three or four months old).
Amanda, i made few of something similar. I used a water bottle and filled it with Water, Baby Oil, Glitter, Googley Eyes, a few drops of food coloring, and let the magic happen! Mini Me really like shaking it and loved when the oil and water would make bubbles!!!! I thought i would share this in hopes Little Lady will like it just as much : ) I miss you guys tons!!!! Nikki
ReplyDelete@MaryAnne - Thank you! The sponge one sounds really fun. Good tips.
ReplyDelete@Nikki - We miss you, too, and I think of you often! Email me soon! I wrote you not long ago. You always beat me to the creative punch. ;)
We had a discover bottle fatality over here. The girl has an arm and the bottle was no match.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news is that it was a baby oil and water Discovery Bottle.
The good news is that it was on the hardwood floor.
The googly eyes are a great idea. I see a Halloween Discovery Bottle in the future!
@Melissa - I laughed. Sorry. Your Wee One is too sweet. Was it colored baby oil?
ReplyDeletei super glued the bottle lid so it wouldn't come off. And it lasted for awhile before the bottle got to scuffed to see into it. Another idea is a bottle filled with newspaper and other compostable items filled with water to show the outcome of garbage and the element of water. Miciah had gis for going on 3 years until the paper turned to complete mush. I thionk Mini Me would find the concept interesting and i could see him checking on it everyday to see what is happening!!!!! Such a curious little boys he was!!
ReplyDelete