Take a look at this ocean beauty! Yes, the sea creatures are actually staying suspended!! Did I mention that this discovery bottle was so easy to make!?!
Ocean Creature Sensory Bottle
I definitely can’t take credit for this gorgeous sea creature sensory bottle. My friend, Cathy, made one for her preschool class as part of her preschool curriculum and snapped a photo for me. I told her I had to make one of my own, and I asked her if I could share it with you all.
Here are some more views of the ocean blue goodness.
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This is by far my favorite ocean themed creation!
Here’s how you can make your own (thank you, Cathy!!!)
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Materials
- Voss Plastic Bottles or any other kind — I bought mine at the grocery store but you can read about all the place to find them or other bottles you could use on my post about How to Make a Perfect Sensory Bottle.
- TOOB ocean creatures
, coral reef set, baby sea creatures, or shark set. - Skewer or stick-like item to get the sea creatures exactly where you want them
- Hair Gel — mine is from the dollar store
- Blue liquid watercolor (optional)
, 
, 
or 
(optional)
Don’t make my mistake!!! The hair gel in this photo is much too blue for the entire bottle!! Use a very light color blue for most of the bottle, and you can use the dark blue for the bottom.
Create the Bottle
- Mix the hair gel with a tiny bit of blue liquid water coloring in a plastic bag, or you can leave it clear. The first time I did this I made it way too dark, but I did end up using the dark for the bottom, which made it look more realistic. Err on the side of less is more is my advice for the rest of the discovery bottle! You can always add more blue to the bag if you need it.
- Cut a corner of the bag with the blue hair gel, and squirt a small amount of gel into the water bottle.
- Add a creature, and adjust it with the skewer.
- Add more hair gel then more ocean creatures.
- To make mine I used dark blue at the bottom and lighter blue all the way up.
Next, we decided to put it on the light table. Here’s how gorgeous they looked there!
I am so glad we made this, and there will be hours upon hours of fun with it!
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very beautiful . its looks real… thank you.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for the sweet comment, Shaiba :).
Just love this:)
Me too!!! Cathy is brilliant! 🙂
do your fish move or do they stay in place? If shaken does the water all become one color?
thanks
They generally stay in place. And eventually the gel does become one color, but it does take awhile.
Using hair gel how long did it last? A short time, still working how old etc. Reason I ask is I have seen some use sanistier.
Hi Di! Mine has lasted years and is still being used. It’s the sensory bottle that keeps on giving :). I hope this helps!
Wow hair gel, now I have heard of baby oil, liquid hand lotion, Karo syrup. The list just keeps going.
Hi Katie … thank you for all the information on sensory bottles. I am hoping to make some myself, and it’s my first time . You have given me an intensive insight in the sensory bottle making . The ocean sensory bottle looks awesome!! I want to try and make it . I will have a look at the other sensory bottles too, there are a lot of great ideas on here.
Enjoy Yasmin! They are so fun :).
Will a cheapo water bottle do? Or does it need to be a thicker material?
Hi Peggy,
Great question! It seems like bottles with wide openings work best for this or else the creatures might not fit inside of it. I tend to use the cheaper bottles for sensory bottles with light and small objects (like waterbeads or beads). I hope this helps!