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Baby Play Ideas: Sea in a Bottle for Crawling and Sitting Bubs

We don’t drink much soft drink in our house but during the summer months Dad 101 does like a cold glass of cordial. When he recently came home from grocery shopping with this elegantly shaped, plastic bottle of lemon cordial I immediately thought it would make a lovely baby play bottle. Fun for sitting bubs and for encouraging the crawling of babies newly on the move, a baby play bottle is super quick and easy to make and I decided that a sea in a bottle would be a wonderful place to start.

Baby play ideas: Sea in a Bottle

To make our Sea in a Bottle I used;

  • One lightweight plastic bottle
  • Water
  • Blue food colouring – just one drop
  • Clear, plastic gemstones – you could just as easily use clear or coloured glass pebbles or even clean beach sand
  • Silver glitter
  • Small sea shells
  • Silver star sequins

I simply added the gemstones and sea shells to the bottle, filling it three quarters full of water (you don’t want to make the bottle too heavy with too much water) and adding a drop of blue food colouring. I then added about a tablespoon of glitter and a handful of star sequins. Secure the lid tightly with a dab of glue from the hot glue gun or by wrapping the top with coloured electrical tape.

Baby play ideas: Sea in a Bottle

AJ is really enjoying exploring her bottle, revisiting it again and again. Her big sister might just like to give it a shake or a roll every now and again as well!

Baby play ideas: Sea in a bottle

Not just for baby play though, this also makes a fabulous calm down bottle for older children. To slow down the swirling of the glitter and starts, combine 1/3 glycerin with 2/3 hot water. Add to bottle with the other objects listed  and allow to cool before sealing.

For more super charged play time ideas for your little people, check out the fabulous play activities in the Zero to Two: Book of Play eBook.

25 playful learning ideas PLUS links to over 50 additional activities. These ideas are not only fun but also super easy to pull together. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE.

activities for babies and toddlers

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Filed Under: Baby Play

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Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Tara says

    March 12, 2013 at 1:48 PM

    Love it!!!!! I am going to make one this afternoon!!!
  2. Jay says

    January 27, 2014 at 3:25 AM

    Hi, Love this craft!!! :) I tried making this for my friend's baby but the blue was too dark with just one drop. Could you please let me know if there is there a certain brand you used? Thank You!
    • Susan says

      July 7, 2017 at 2:45 AM

      Easy solution: use a larger container to color the water. Pour some out and add plain water until you get the color you want. Hope this helps!
    • Butu Malome says

      February 10, 2018 at 1:46 PM

      I ran into the same problem. I added a small drop on a tooth pick, swirled it it to the water before pouring. I then added a drop to the sea shell I was adding.
  3. Cindy deRosier says

    August 28, 2014 at 7:32 AM

    I'm the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured your project! You can see it here: http://funfamilycrafts.com/sea-bottle/ If you have other kid-friendly crafts, we'd love it if you would submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a fun project idea!
  4. Chiara says

    May 11, 2016 at 7:21 AM

    I know this was posted years ago, but would the sea in a bottle work with baby oil instead of water? I want the shells to float rather than rattle inside the bottle. Thanks!

Trackbacks

  1. Discovery bottles. - Page 2 says:
    July 22, 2013 at 1:29 PM
    [...] Amy...look what I've just stumbled across...little bit excited?! Baby Play Ideas: Sea in a Bottle for Crawling and Sitting Bubs And this one looks AWESOME!! I really want to make one of these...plus there is a how to video [...]
  2. Really Big List of Homemade Stocking Stuffers (DIY Linky) says:
    November 25, 2013 at 8:37 AM
    [...] Sea in a Bottle at Childhood 101 [...]
  3. 30+ One Year Old Activities in Baskets, Bottles, and Bins - Kids Activities Blog says:
    October 3, 2014 at 6:40 AM
    […] an ocean with seashells in a bottle for baby to explore | Childhood […]
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    February 27, 2017 at 4:15 PM
    […] Sea in a Bottle | Childhood 101 […]
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    March 5, 2017 at 5:05 AM
    […] Tutorial and Source: childhood101 […]
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    March 6, 2017 at 11:15 PM
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