The One With Sensory Water Bottles

So in a moment of desperation the other day I just let the babies with my half-empty (I mean half-full) water bottle. Favorite. Toy. Ever. I love that kids love cheap random stuff that isn't meant to be a toy. They loved to slosh it around and crinkle it and gnaw on it all over. So I decided to fill other water bottles full of random household crap and give it a fancy name, "Sensory Water Bottles".  Works for me!

Here's what you need:
1. Empty water bottles (any size, even 2 liter bottles would work!)
2. Hot glue
3. Random household crap (not literally)
4. Electrical Tape
5. Food Coloring

The hardest part of this project was waiting. I'm the kind of person that once I get the "craft bug" I must create RIGHT THEN. If I'm feeling creative I will paint or re-arrange a room at midnight. But sadly, I needed to wait until my water bottles were COMPLETELY dry.  This took over 24 hours. Boo. I even tried to speed up the process with a hair dryer on the cool setting. Nope. If you don't wait until they are completely dry, would will have a cloudy and possibly moldy bottle.

Once the bottles were dry, I filled them up! I used:
-red food coloring in water
-green food coloring in water
-uncooked spaghetti noodles
-some random jingle bells I found
-colorful fuzzy pom pom balls
-uncooked beans

I tightened the bottles as tight as I could, then hot glued them to seal them closed.  Then I got paranoid and used electrical tape to super seal the lid on.  I'm still paranoid of them somehow choking on a bean or jingle bell, but I'll watch them. I really don't think that they can open them at this age. *

*please don't sue me if you make these and your Houdini baby somehow opens these up unsupervised

My babies LOVE these.  

Here are some fun aspects about sensory water bottles:
-They make all sorts of different noises (sensory input)
-They are different weights (the bean bottle is not full and heavy, yet the pom pom bottle is full and very light)
-They are super sealed and can float in the bathtub
-The girls love looking at the world through the colored water
-They can fit in the cup holders of their carseats/stroller for entertainment
-They were basically free to make

Hope you guys make some! They are fun! :)


***Also: You can also do this with 2 liters for older kids. Fill it up with mostly rice and add extra random things inside and ask them to find them. "Can you find the yellow button? Or the silver screw?" etc It's like a fun treasure hunt!