Make Learning Fun in Bottles

Young children can reuse clear plastic soda and water bottles to create interesting science, math, and art activities. They are handy for rainy days, quiet times, and birthday parties. Smaller bottles work best for very young children.

Experiment Adding Items to Bottles

   Gather some clean, clear plastic bottles and remove any labels. Add any of the items below and seal the bottle with hot glue, if desired.
Fill Bottles Creatively
  Fill half of a bottle with cooking or baby oil. Next add water until the bottle is ¾ full.  Add blue food coloring and a few small seashells. Shake.  What happens? Why?
  To make a tornado bottle, roll ten small pieces of tin foil into balls. Fill the bottle with water and a drop of detergent so the bottle is almost full. Twirl and lightly shake to make a tornado.
  Place Styrofoam pieces in an empty bottle and close it.  Rub the bottle on hair. Observe what happens and explain static electricity, the uncontrolled movement of electrons. Go into a dark closet.

Make a Rythmn Band of Bottles

Children may be able to see sparks.
  Add a piece of wet sponge into an open bottle. Sprinkle grass seed or some other sprouting seeds. Grass will sprout in two days. Discuss how plants grow.
 What floats or sinks?  Fill a bottle half full of water.  Drop in small items from around the house like small pieces of paper, paper clips, and tiny toys. If an item has more molecule than the water it replaces, it will sink.  Guess what will float or sink.
 Bottles of Fun
  Rain bottles make beautiful sounds. Fill a bottle with a box of toothpicks and uncooked rice.  Leave about two inches of air at the top.  When turned, rice falls through the toothpicks and sounds like a gentle rain. The bottle is a good addition to other musical instruments.
  Write a number on the outside of a bottle and fill with that number of tiny objects. Children can practice counting, adding, subtracting and counting again.
  Cover some bottles with black paper to make sound mystery bottles.  Collect items from

Make Bubbles

around the house like paper clips, rice, sand, water, pieces of paper, and marbles. Gently shake and guess the mystery sounds.
  Fill a bottle with magnetic and nonmagnetic items and sand. Rub the outside of the bottle with a magnet to attract the magnetic items.
  To make a bottle of bubble solution, gently stir 3/4 Dawn detergent and ¼ water or less.  Label the bottle “bubbles.” Fashion a long thin bubble maker from a hanger that will fit in the bottle. Show children how to blow bubbles. Use under supervision and store out of reach.
Photos, Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest