Do you remember those little water-filled games that used to be around when we were kids? You know – the handheld ones where you try to get miniature floating hoops onto little stakes, or tiny floating fish into a bucket?
My son saw one in a store last week and was fascinated by it – and it inspired me to try to make a Christmas-themed one for him at home. What I came up with is this cute Shake Up a Christmas Tree Discovery Bottle idea!
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DIY Shake Up a Christmas Tree Discovery Bottle
You Will Need:
-
- An empty glass or plastic bottle with a watertight seal (try a large Mason Jar, or an empty coffee container) – I found this awesome mason jar at the dollar store with a handle that was perfect for shaking!
- A miniature plastic Christmas tree that fits inside the jar
- A variety of small coloured beads or Miniature Christmas Light Bulbs
- Some letter beads that spell “Christmas” (just for a touch of educational fun!)
- Clear mineral oil or baby oil (allows decorations to sink)
- Optional: Assorted miniature decorations: a small star button, mini musical instruments, strands of beads, etc.
- A glue gun
Making the Discovery Bottle
Step 1: Hot glue the bottom of the tree to the inside of the cap/lid of the bottle and leave to dry.
Step 2: Add all your beads, and mini-ornaments into the jar and fill 3/4 with mineral/baby oil.
Step 3: Gently lower the tree into the jar of oil and screw the lid on tightly.
Step 4: Flip the bottle right side up and watch as the ornaments decorate the tree!
Step 5: Challenge your child to get the star to land near the top of the tree – or to spell the word Christmas using letter beads, or to get at least 5 red beads on the tree, etc.
Please spread the holiday cheer and PIN this!
Onetime had so much fun helping to make and playing with this new discovery bottle! “Let’s decorate the tree Mama!” and shake, shake, shake!
Recommended Related Reading
Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
Looking for a book to go along with this discovery bottle? Check out a favourite book of ours from last year. This fun series focuses on a kind and patient truck named “Little Blue” who enjoys helping others.
In this story, Little Blue delivers Christmas trees to his friends and their families, while practising a little counting. At the end of the book, there is a really neat Christmas tree that actually lights up!
I hope you found what you were looking for and more!
This post is a part of a fun holiday discovery bottle blog hop! Be sure to click on the links below to check out some other great ideas!
Sunny Day Family | Christmas Tree in a Bottle
Preschool Inspirations | Jingle Bells Discovery Bottle
Sugar Aunts | Christmas Shapes Discovery Bottle
By the way, when do you usually get your tree up? Is it too early?
I LOVE this! We’ll definitely be making one – what a great idea for some quiet time when the holiday excitement gets to be too much.
Thanks for dropping by Laura! I think sensory bottles are perfect for quiet time – maybe while listening to some holiday music.
This is gorgeous!! I love everything about it, especially the jar you used :).
Thanks for dropping by Katie! The handle was just perfect for the shaking and holding by little hands…Thanks for organizing another blog hop! So much fun!
Nice work! I attempted one of these last year and it was a disaster. I have no idea where I went wrong. ha ha Maybe I’ll try again this year following your directions 🙂 Yours turned out very cute!!
Oh no Jill! Did the bottle just leak? With our first attempt we added glitter and that really made the whole tree too difficult to see, so we did it again with just the beads/ornaments and not too many and that seemed to work nicely. The strands of beads looked really cute too I think! Thanks for dropping by!
This is perfect! I absolutely love that you chose a mason jar with a handle on it! We will be making these for sure 🙂
Thanks for dropping by Katie! The handle definitely helps – it was kind of one of those dollarstore fated moments! He he!