Discovery Bottles

 

I have 13 bottles shown above and I am going to show just how and what to do to make yourself a set just like this!  

 I have been known to empty a set of water bottles into a pitcher in order to have empty bottles to work with! My other set is three years old and they were made with recycled water bottles.  They have gotten really thin.  I recommend stronger plastic like these. 

Here are the labels I used for my bottles 

{Click to print}

The first group of bottles I made are for spelling/word work/sight word practice.  They are called word bottles. {Pretty original name if you ask me} Run the words below on cardstock, cut, and put them in your bottle with filler. 

This is one of my word bottles.  The filler here is rice.  Be sure to leave room at the top so the rice will move around freely exposing words here and there for the students to read and record.

I made three different word bottles.  Each with a different filler. -- Rice, Salt, and pom poms.

I am going to list out all the items I used for filler, but the sky is the limit!  Just start cleaning out your cupboards, pantry, or craft closet!

Bottle Fillers:

rice

sand

beans

elbow pasta

salt

confetti

glitter

pom poms

karo syrup

water

tissue paper pieces

Here is the recording sheet for the word bottles

Next I made some science discovery bottles and an observation/recording sheet to go with them. I begin the school year with these as my first science workstation.  It is a great way to set expectations and allow students to explore as they get used to workstation time.

This is a static electricity bottle.  I put in small pieces of tissue paper.  Students rub the bottle on their head or clothes and the tissue paper sticks to the side of the bottle where they rubbed it. 

This ocean bottle is 1/2 water 1/4 oil and blue food coloring.  It shows the layer of oil and water and when the students roll it around it makes waves.

This tornado bottle is 1/4 glitter (any color) half water and a little clothes detergent for a nice cloud at the top.

These density bottles have three marbles in the bottom.  Students roll the bottle around and can compare how the marbles move through the mystery liquid.  I also put a few star sequins in there for some fun.  They float through the thick liquid. The filler for Density one is light Karo syrup.  The filler for Density two is shampoo.  {You could also use hair gel, body wash or anything thick but pretty transparent so students can see the marbles moving}

The sink or float bottle is half full of water.  I went through the junk drawer and found some random objects to put in.  I made sure some would sink and some would float.  The magnetic bottle has confetti as my filler but inside are some magnetic objects also found in my junk drawer.  Students move a magnet around the outside of the bottle and are surprised when a paper clip or a screw stick to the side of the bottle and the confetti rolls away.  

 Things like paper clips, legos, tiny toys, screws, nuts, bolts, rubber bands, penny or other small objects.

 

Here is the observation sheet for the science bottles

 

Next I made number bottles for math tubs.  These can be both beginner level as well as advanced. You print the number sheet on cardstock, cut, and put the numbers in the bottles with your filler of choice. You can have them record the numbers they find, add, or subtract as your year progresses.  The recording sheet gives an example.  You can also have them compare the numbers for greater than and less than. 

 Click to grab the numbers for both beginner and advanced as well as the number recording sheet.

 Tips: Be sure to hot glue your bottles closed and put a number on the lid of each bottle for easy reference when students write about bottles during the science center. 

There is a lot of information online about discovery bottles!  These shown are what I choose to use for my class.  I hope this helped make it easier for you!