Although this isn’t a difficult project, it requires a lot of supervision and help because of all the liquid and the hot glue. The kids all love it, though, especially my six month old daughter!
You will need:
- A bottle of some kind (water, spice, etc)
- Water
- Oil (I used baby oil)
- Hot glue gun
- “Floaters” and “sinkers” (see ‘good to have’ below)
Good to have:
- Glitter
- Beads (sink)
- Small sponge scraps (float mid-water)
- Light weight plastic beads (float below the oil)
- Shapes cut from foam paper (float on top of the oil)
- Any other small objects you can think of
The Project:
Gather a variety of “floaters” and “sinkers” (objects that float and sink) and let the kids put them in a clean, empty bottle. Fill the bottle with half water and half oil; try not to leave any air. Make sure the lid and outside top of the bottle, where the lid screws on, is very dry. Generously fill the inside of the lid (where the sides meet the flat top of the lid) with hot glue and screw the cap onto the bottle. Let the glue set, and then give it to the kids to shake and roll all around!
Tips:
- The oil will get white when shaken a lot (small air bubbles make it look cloudy), but will return to a clear liquid if left to rest long enough.
- Mine have yet to leak, and we made them a few weeks ago, but I would still check them from time to time. You don’t want baby oil all over the toy box, diaper bag, or backseat of the car!
- We added glitter to my son’s bottle. It only seems to float around in the water, and the color of the glitter looks great against the clear oil!
- Emily’s bottle has small sponge chunks instead of glitter. They float really nicely in the middle of the water.
- I love the little plastic beads we used. They were borrowed from a ‘fusible bead art’ kit. (You know, you put the little plastic beads on the pegs and then run the iron across the top to melt them together to make a picture. You can buy the beads and the kits at Wal-Mart and crafting stores.)They are bright, colorful, and float on top of the water, but below the oil. Very nice.
- I put in the water first and then asked my son if he thought they objects would float or sink as he put them in the bottle. I was surprised at how quickly he caught on! It was a really fun impromptu game.
- I color coordinated our bottles, using the lid colors as a guide to the colors we’d use for the contents; it really made for a pretty result!
