How to Make Sensory Bottles for Kids

This tutorial shows how inexpensive, easy, and fun sensory bottles are to make and play with.

These sensory bottles are a great way for kids to practice hand-eye coordination, calm themselves, and practice concentrating while watching glitter fall.

My children and I made a few of these sensory water bottles in just minutes with items we had on hand.

We made ours in 8 oz and 4 oz. bottles. Both sizes were fun for kids to create and play with.

You could make these in a nicer bottle like a plastic VOSS water bottle or Sparkling ICE water bottle.

Unless your kids are older, I’d recommend not using glass bottles because kids often drop them while playing with them.

These sensory bottles were quick to make. Each took about 2-3 minutes.

We’ve played with them for five months. The photos on this post were taken recently, five months after making them. If you watch the video, you can see that they look like they did five months ago. They’ve held up really well.

I had all the supplies, so it didn’t cost me anything out of pocket.

However, if you were to buy all of the supplies, they are not expensive— especially if you make more than one.

Supply List for How to Make Sensory Bottles for Kids

Water bottle, any plastic water bottle with the label removed. Use soap or goo gone to remove the label.

glitter

food coloring

water (normal water works fine; distilled water will get better results)

funnel (optional but useful)

Glue-clear OR you can also use Vegetable Glycerin, mineral oil/baby oil, shampoo, and/or clear gel handsoap.

We make a lot of slime at our house and so we had clear glue on hand. We also had glycerin on hand because we make snow globes with glycerin about once a year. All you need is a substance that will slow the glitter down from falling. Since I have used glycerin a few times in snow globes I decided to try the glue. Both work just fine.

Optional- Epoxy waterproof glue to seal the lids. I did not use this and we have not had any leaking of the lids but it would be a nice precautionary measure to take for peace of mind.

Directions on How to Make Sensory Bottles for Kids

Continue reading or watch the video on this page for directions on how to make sensory bottles

1- Pour water into a water bottle that has had its label removed. Fill until it is 3/4th full.

2- Add drops of food coloring until you get a desired color.

3- Add glitter to the water bottle. We used different sizes. However, the super fine glitter stays aloft in the water much longer than the larger, heavier glitter. If you do use a heavier glitter, I’d also add super fine for contrast and interest.

4- Pour in clear glue, hand soap, oil, or clear shampoo (if you use glycerin, add about 2T of glycerin and fill the rest of the bottle with water) until there is only a little room left for air bubbles. You want a small air bubble to move the glitter.

5- Tighten the cap onto the bottle tight.

6- Optional- You may consider using epoxy Loctite glue and put it around the rim of the cap before tightening (make sure the rim of the bottle and cap are dry). Let it dry, and it should hold the cap so it won’t come off. We did not do this step and have been using these for five months, and have not had the lids come off or the bottles leak or spill. However my littlest children cannot remove a tight cap and my other children are old enough to know not to remove the caps. If you have a child in between I’d highly recommend epoxying the cap.

Sensory toys are a great way to help calm kids down, capture their attention, and use fine motor skills. These Sensory bottles for kids are inexpensive, easy to make, and are a great craft to do together.