This is not a post on how to make sensory bottles. There are a lot of great Internet resources available for that. I will list a couple at the end of this post. This post is about things to consider when making sensory bottles for toddler twins based on my experience in the last couple of weeks.
Sensory bottles are a Montessori play tool that I’ve been interested in for a while but procrastinated on putting some together for the girls until I saw how happy Sugar was playing with one in the daycare. I got some beads and food coloring to make 5 sensory bottles
Lesson 1 - Numeracy: Who makes odd numbered toys for twins? The ruckus becomes who gets the extra bottle
Lesson 2 - Duplication: The 5 bottles I made were all different. Predictably, both girls decided that the bottle with red-colored water was their favorite and they MUST have that one. The ruckus quickly degenerated into an all out cat-fight and there's a proverb in my native language that says "when 2 elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers!" The loser was the poor, defenceless sensory bottle
Lesson 3 – Eco bottles: You know those bottles that use 40% less plastic? Great for the environment. Bad for sensory bottles. They’re so soft that they crumble easily and I’m scared that with all the gnawing and chewing going on, the bottle may be punctured any minute. The contents are edible but still… I plan on making a new set using good ol’ coca cola bottles
Lesson 5 – Size matters: I used tiny water bottles and the tops were hard to tape plus the bottles were a little to easy for the girls to fling. Another reason to use coke bottles next time
 |
| Bruised, battered, shaken but not stirred |
Mistakes made and lessons learnt. The bottles are enough fun for me to attempt again and hopefully get it right this time.
Now for those online resources, here’s a short list:
- A very informative guide on the website of the Arkansas government. Yeah who knew?!
