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Rainbow Discovery Bottles on the Light Table

These Dollar Store Rainbow Discovery Bottles offer young children a rich sensory experience, opportunities for science, and fun light table play all rolled into one. Is there anything better than a dollar store find and some recyclable materials that can be transformed into something gorgeous and intriguing? These discovery bottles fit the bill!
Play to Learn Preschool

About Discovery Bottles

Discovery bottles are amazing sensory tools for helping children practice self-regulation.  They provide an appropriate amount of weight for “heavy work,” which is very calming.  They provide sensory experiences for sight and sound as well.  And, of course, they are just beautiful! For more sensory bottle ideas, head on over to the post about weighted discovery bottles for very active students. These rainbow discovery bottles are based on an idea from Preschool Inspirations.

These are  “Magic Two Ingredient” bottles with items from the Dollar Store.

Following these directions from Preschool Inspirations is super easy, economical, and fun! If you are looking for more variety, check out these “calm down bottles” as well.

Experimenting is Fun!

The bottles in the classroom started at the science center.  The students quickly noticed how they looked with light shining from the window, so the next logical step was to get out the light table!

The consistency appears to change when the bottles are tipped in different directions.
Rolling, shaking, and tipping the bottles results in different results.

Pushing the bottles together made a very satisfying feel and sound!

These discovery bottles can also be used to reinforce some color theory knowledge.  Lining them up in rainbow order or even holding different bottles near each other to blend the colors is a mess-free way to reinforce color mixing.

Building towers is great practice for motor skills and planning skills.

The bottles are transparent enough that when two are placed together, they make a new color.

Discovery bottles are so visually appealing. They are perfect for kids who need a calming sensory experience.

Follow this Board for lots of great Light Table Ideas:

Check out this Resource from my Shop!

Colors Preschool Unit

$10.00

Learn all about colors, shading, mixing, colors of the rainbow, and the Holi Festival of Colors, in this Colors Preschool Unit. Preschoolers and their teachers will love this complete 10 day Circle Time unit. It includes detailed daily lesson plans, printable activities, as well as literacy, math, and fine motor centers. It also includes 11 bonus color posters.

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Reader Interactions

7 Comments

  2. Sarah Davies

    Love these! Can't wait to use these with mirrors. Did you add different water colours to the clear gel? How much gel to water beads did you use? The consistency looks perfect.

    • Jamie White, M.Ed.

      Thanks Sarah! I just added a couple of drops of food coloring to each bottle and shook them up. I really didn't measure the gel and water. A few of the bottles had too much liquid, so I strained them and started over. Go ahead and experiment with it. You can't go wrong!

  3. Aushmarie

    How many water beads fit into one bottle? Did you have to hydrate your water beads before adding them to the container or was it already hydrated?

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