Relaxation Bottles
At the beginning of every school year, I teach my preschoolers about relaxing and calming down in healthy ways. One of the ways I do this is to make Relaxation Bottles with them. I like to make a variety of bottles that children can watch, flip, shake and roll as a relaxation toy. Try one of them, or try all of them! Please only allow your children to use the bottles under supervision of an adult because of small parts and things they shouldn’t swallow.
Suggested Materials:
- Empty water or pop bottles of various sizes
- Water
- Food coloring
- Glitter
- Foam shapes
- Shells, beads, coins
- Sand
- Pipe cleaners, paper clips or other small magnetic materials
- Magnet
- Blue hair gel
- Cooking oil
- Glue
Water and Oil Relaxation Bottle
This is the classic Relaxation Bottle that preschool children seem to love the best. I let the children pick out small trinkets to add to their bottle. Then they pick out a color of food coloring and a color of glitter that gets added to the bottle. Fill the bottle about 2/3 full of water. Top the last 1/3 off with cooking oil. To make the top stay on more securely, add glue around the ring of the bottle. Children love to shake this up and watch the oil and water separate time after time.
Magnetic Relaxation Bottle
Your children will love this game of hide and seek with this Relaxation Bottle! Add some magnetic items such as cut up pipe cleaners and paper clips to the bottle. Fill the bottle about 1/3 to 1/2 full of sand. Secure the lid and let your children use a magnet on the outside of the bottle to move around the magnetic items and see what they find!
Gel Ocean Relaxation Bottle
Add some shells and fish foam cut outs (you can easily cut your own!) to a bottle. Then add blue hair gel to make the Ocean Relaxation Bottle!
Water Ocean Relaxation Bottle
Make a mini-ocean in a bottle! Add sand, shells and foam fish to the bottle. Then fill the bottle with blue colored water to create your ocean. Add a little bit of glitter for a special sparkle!
Water and Glitter Bottle
The simplest and sometimes most enchanting for a child is simply a water bottle with food coloring, glitter and water. Swirl it and watch the glitter fall slowly. So peaceful!
