Discovery Bottles

[apple]

Hi Folks I found this on tinternet and thought of making them for my K&U Inspire workshop.

 

Dicovery Bottles

Empty small water bottle. Remove labels. Make discovery bottles by adding any of the following materials: 1) bells 2) pom poms 3) cooking oil, food coloring and water 4) clear corn syrup and any other substance (i.e. sequins, glitter) to give it suspension 5) beads 6) water (food coloring, optional) & glitter 7) colored rice 8) water & seashells 9) anything else you can think of Glue gun the lids on the bottles.

 

I have made a similar thing in the past (for my own amusement and used the water gel thingymigigs that you can put in plants; I think I might have put too much in so that the objects (in this case glitter) didn't float too well. I was wondering if anyboady out there has made them and if so can you tell me waht you used and how you went about it.

Cheers

[Sue R]

These are brilliant - we've been using them for years!!!!!

 

Didn't realise it was a new idea? We tend to make them simply, with water and the other suggested ideas, just renewing as and when

 

Sue

[Guest]

Yes, we've used them for some time too - if you add Glycerine to the water ( I think it was a ratio of 1:7) the glitter is suspended for longer and I think it acts as a preserving agent too because our bottles have lasted for yonks! The children are absolutely facinated by them but be warned they are addictive. I got a little bit carried away and tried all sorts of concoctions - some more successful than others A jar of 'runny honey' works really well- a bit like a lava lamp

[Guest tinkerbell]

These sound fascinating i have never heard of them before.

How full do you fill the bottles?

Do you have say 6 on a table for children to explore shaking them?

Tinkerbell

[Guest]

I've made up some too - they are quite soothing and agree they can be quite addictive. If you make the one with oil and water, try adding blue colouring to the water and when you mix it hey presto get a green liquid. Children like to just play, watch, observe them. Reminder must get some new ones done. A cheap and good resource to put out every now and again.

Nikki

[Guest]

Do you put water in all of the bottles - the ones with pom poms and bells in too?

[Guest]

I've used clear liquid handwash too - has a good thick consistency. Small circular slices of plastic straw are good if you want something that floats but doesn't get water-logged.

[Guest]

These sound great! We are making snow globes in the next few weeks as part of our topic so will put glycerine in now to suspend the glitter better - thanks!

[apple]

ok Raine and Sue R can you talk us through how you would go about making one A kind of guide for dummies!! e.g quantaties of oil, glycerine, things you have put in yours etc how you seel them

cheers

[Sue R]

Hi there - Liza - a job for you!!

 

PM me Sunday to remind me, then I will have leisure to post. Things are a bit hectic right now - so much so, I'm forgetting to log out!!

 

Sue

[Guest]

Thanks for the idea Liza, and all the others.

But hey Liza instead of getting recipes from frazzled Sue R ( or as well as), why not make some with the children, trial and error, I wonder what they will decide to put in the bottles???

 

Peggy

[apple]

Rightio Sue will do.

Thanks for that Peggy, we aimed to do just that as it will be an Inspire workshop with parents and children so we are planning to have a variety of things to experiment with e.g glitter, sequins, bits of straw (like ASPK suggeested), food colouring, poms poms (not sure about these but will bung them in anyway!), can you suggest anything else (relatively low cost and easy to get hold of

[Guest]

shredded paper

I used the "holes cut out" from hole punchers and my binding machine for craft, these might be good.

earth

grass

lentils

coconut

pips

pot pourre (excuse spelling)

small polestyrene balls ( safety re swallowing)(excuse spelling)

material cut into tiny peices

foil

sweet wrappings cut into tiny pieces

cloves

 

anything that can be cut into small peices- brain dead now

 

Peggy

p.s. sounds like you are going to have fun

[apple]

cheers Peggy I'll get chopping things or better still get the kids on the case

I'll let you know how we get on in a couple of weeks time.

[Guest]

I just use small plastic bottles, such as spring water bottles. Last year I put powdered coffee in one bottle (with water). The children saw it dissolve and then discovered that if you shake the bottle vigorously you get lovely froth on the top and it "turns into beer"!!!

You can try adding food-colouring to oil/water in a bottle - the colour shoul end up in the water layer (haven't actually tried it myself). Also I read somewhere that you can get three layers if you use three different density liquids such as golden syrup, oil and water...

 

Have fun

[hali]

I wouldnt mind quantities of things too please when you have time as want to do these for my next FD assessment, thanks

[Inge]

we often make these with the children, there are no specific quanties or measurements as it is usually an experiment where the children can have a lot of input. They make decision as as to how much water oil etc.

soil worked well shake it and it settles into layers but it can take days to have clear water and soil at the bottom, add grass to the same and you will get 3 layers then too, or we did.

 

we use large plastic jars from Dog chews which we ask for from parents and staff, as they are really large and allow items like a bar of soap to be added to see how it melts or how long it takes or if it actually does....we had one bar from a hotel that didnt!! if used in this way we always have a control jar or bottle of just water to compare them with.

 

just use imagination and try anything, does it really matter if it doesnt work how you expect.. that is the fun of this idea and a learning curve for us as well as the children.

 

Inge

[Guest]

There is no 'recipe' as such - just need to fill the bottle almost to the top with your mixture (I used one part Glycerine to seven parts coloured water- adding glycerine can get a little expensive if you make lots, but they do last for ages.)

Then you just have great fun adding other ingredients, some of the more successful things I have used include:

In larger bottles

small balls of foil,

cooking oil (brilliant, even after it has solidified after three years - looks disgusting but is one of the children's favourites!),

glittery strands of string,

foil confetti (which ever fits our current topic/number/alphabet)

small Polysytrene shapes

 

In small bottles (simply to keep cost down!)

runny honey (simply remove all labels and seal the bottle it comes in)

hand wash (ditto above)

treacle (very messy when one enterprising sole got the top off !)

 

Then you simply seal the bottle lid with glue - and I usually add some extra electrical insulating tape. Present them in an interesting manner and stand well back so as not to get trampled in the stampede

[apple]

thanks Raine I look forward to gettin started and sharing this with the parents and the children

[apple]

Oh guys joy of joys. I did a little googling and found this American school website with tons of ideas about discovery bottles. I absolutely love the static electricity and the magnetic bottle ones.

ENJOY... I certainly will

 

Discovery Bottles