An ocean sensory bottle is so captivating and fun to play with! Create your own ocean in a bottle and watch the contents swirl and settle, just like waves at the beach.
Explore 3 different types of ocean sensory bottles made with marine themed items like sand and seashells. These DIY discovery bottles are simple, versatile, and very inexpensive to make. And best of all they’re great calming tools for reducing anxiety and improving concentration!
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How to Make Ocean Sensory Bottles
Materials:
- VOSS Water bottle (empty)
Ocean Sensory Bottle #1
Ocean Sensory Bottle #2
Ocean Sensory Bottle #3
Equipment:
- Cotton round (or cotton ball)
- Rubbing alcohol (or Goo Gone, for cleaning off label)
- Wooden skewer (for stirring)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Prepare your water bottle:
- Rinse or wash out an empty water bottle to make sure it's clean. Remove the label.
- Clean the outside of the bottle to remove any glue residue. You can wipe this with rubbing alcohol, Goo Gone, or simply soak the bottle in warm, soapy water.
Ocean Sensory Bottle #1:
- For this ocean sensory bottle you'll need baby oil, decorative rocks and stones, seashells, and glitter.
- Fill the bottle about 3/4 full with baby oil.
- Add about 1/4 cup of decorative rocks to the bottle. We put in about 20 rocks in a nice pink colour.
- Pour in about 1/3 cup of polished agate stones in different colours. We added 30 to 40 of them.
- Then add the mini seashells. We added about 1/2 cup of shells into the bottle, made up of all different types.
- Add in about 1/2 teaspoon of star shaped glitter or confetti. We added some in both blue and silver.
- Finally, top up the bottle with baby oil so that the liquid reaches the top.
- Close the bottle tightly and turn it back and forth to combine the contents.
- Your seashells and rocks ocean sensory bottle is complete!If you shake the bottle the star shaped glitter will swirl like it's in a whirlpool. But we also really like slowly turning this discovery bottle and examining all the different shells and rocks.
Ocean Sensory Bottle #2:
- For this second ocean sensory bottle you'll need baby oil, sand, shells, and blue oil based food colouring.
- Fill the empty water bottle about 3/4 full with baby oil.
- Add 1 drop of blue oil based food colouring into the bottle.
- Use a wooden skewer to stir the food colouring into the oil. The water should be light blue.
- Pour about 1/3 cup of decorative sand into the bottle.
- Then add about 1/2 cup of seashells into the bottle.
- Finally, fill the bottle to the top with baby oil.
- Close the lid of the bottle tightly and turn it upside-down to combine the add-ins.
- Your shell and sand ocean sensory bottle is complete!The seashells are hidden in the sand, but they reveal themselves when you shake or tilt the sensory bottle. How many different types of shells can you find?
Ocean Sensory Bottle #3:
- For this ocean sensory bottle you'll need water, baby oil, starfish beads, blue food colouring, and sand.
- Fill a bottle half way with water.
- Add about 6 drops of blue food colouring into the water.
- Use a skewer to stir the food colouring into the water. It should be a deep blue.
- Pour in about 1/3 cup of sand.
- Add in about 10 starfish beads, or other little sea creature toys of your choice.
- Then fill the rest of the bottle with baby oil.
- Close the lid tightly, and tilt back and forth to combine the contents.
- Your ocean depths sensory bottle is complete!Finding the hidden starfish in this bottle is great for an "I spy" game, and the blue "waves" moving around as you tilt the bottle back and forth are so beautiful! Plus, shake the bottle to create fun blue bubbles!
Helpful Tips:
- We recommend carefully rinsing your decorative sand in a large bowl until the water is clear. This will remove some of the “murkiness” from the sand, giving your sensory bottle a nicer look. Then add the sand directly to your sensory bottle, or allow the extra to dry on a paper towel lined tray.
- Play around with adding different liquids to your sensory bottle. Read below for more details!
- Glue the lid of the sensory bottle shut with hot glue or super glue, if you’re worried about little hands opening it.
What add-ins are best for an ocean sensory bottle?
There are so many great items you can put in an ocean sensory bottle! We used the following:
- Decorative sand
- Seashells
- Decorative rocks
- Starfish beads
- Polished agate stones
- Star shaped glitter
You can also try some of these add-ins:
- Mini driftwood pieces
- Plastic fish or other sea animal toys
- Blue glitter
- Pearls or other gems
- Gold coin (to represent buried treasure)
- Foam ocean animal shapes (or cut your own from craft foam!)
What liquids are best for an ocean sensory bottle?
You can use different types of liquids for your sensory bottles. For most sensory bottles, either option will work. And some sensory bottles, like oil and water sensory bottles, will use a combination!
1. Oil
We used baby oil as the only liquid in two of our ocean sensory bottles. Baby oil (mineral oil) works especially well for sensory bottles with lighter weight add-ins, like glitter.
You can buy a bottle of baby oil at the dollar store and pour it right into your water bottle, without worrying about ratios or combining any other liquid ingredients.
Cooking oil is another option for making sensory bottles, but keep in mind that the sensory bottle liquid will be yellow. This could work well to combine with oil based blue food colouring for a seafoam green colour.
2. Water mixture
Mixing water with another item, like glycerin, is a great way to make slow moving sensory bottles with heavier items, like seashells or beads. You can use this mixture instead of baby oil for the first two sensory bottles.
Instead of glycerin you can also use: clear dish soap, clear glue, clear hair gel, or white corn syrup. Add mostly water to your bottle and then play around with the ratios to get a good thickness, where the add-ins sink slowly.
3. Oil and water mixture
We used a mixture of water and baby oil for one of our sensory bottles. Water is heavier than oil, and it will sit on the bottom of the bottle.
When you shake the bottle the two liquids will look like they’re combining, creating the beautiful “water bubbles”. But oil is hydrophobic and will push away the water molecules, meaning the water will eventually sink to the bottom again.
What bottles make the best ocean sensory bottle?
The best bottles for making sensory bottles are, of course, the ones you have at home that you can find in the recycling. Ideally, though, you should use a clear bottle with flat, non-ridged sides. This allows you to see the add-ins more clearly!
We like to use VOSS water bottles to make our sensory bottles. With their flat silver cap they almost look like little aquariums!
The 500 mL VOSS bottles are a popular choice for making sensory bottles. They have a wide opening, which is great for adding larger items to the bottle, like seashells or other aquatic themed items.
You can also buy a bottle of Sparkling ICE. These bottles are tall and flat-sided, but the opening is a lot more narrow, so make sure you use small shells and a funnel to add the sand.
You can also make mini sensory bottles with travel sized shampoo bottles or test tubes with caps. These little containers don’t fit as much, but they’re still a lot of fun!
Enjoy making a simple and beautiful ocean sensory bottle! DIY sensory bottles are so easy to make, and these customizable ocean sensory bottles are very visually appealing.
It’s so fun to tilt and shake the bottles, watching the contents mimic the gentle ebb and flow of the waves. Make these sensory jars at home or summer camp, or use them at school to learn about the ocean!
Here’s even more DIY sensory bottle ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound |  Amazon Canada
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