Make some rainbow coloured Kindness Potions Sensory Bottles to learn about what makes a kind and caring heart, after reading The Story of the Kindness Elves book! This is such a fun way to learn a little science, PHSE, literacy and a sprinkling of awe and wonder. The kindness potions sensory bottles make a wonderful tool for reflective mindfulness too and are a great addition to a class or home calm-down kit.

We have been making and playing with lots of activities and crafts related to my new story book, The Story of the Kindness Elves! We made this giant cloud craft with rainbow raindrops which is going to be the backdrop for Miss 4’s up-coming birthday party too (yes, she really did choose a Kindness Elves birthday party theme all by herself!)

This Kindness Potions Sensory Bottle activity is both a science demonstration and also a lovely tool for talking about feelings, kind character virtues and mindfulness. The fact that they’re rainbow coloured and look rather gorgeous is a bonus too. I found them quite irresistible to play with myself, let alone the kids!

How to Make Kindness Potions Sensory Bottles:

Glitter Glue in rainbow colours

7 Small, clean jars with screw top lids (ours were empty sprinkles jars, so a tiny size and perfect for small hands!)

Warm water

Glitter in corresponding colours

Plain paper, pen and glue for making labels

As the step by step photos show in the collage above, first empty the tube of glitter glue into the jar (or squeeze a generous dollop if using a large bottle.)

Next, fill nearly to the top with the warm water. We used water from a recently boiled kettle as the heat seems to help the glitter glue mix more quickly.

Then tip in a heap of glitter in matching colour, seal the lid tight (using a hot glue gun if necessary) and give a big shake to mix it all together!

You can watch our how-to video here to see how we made all 7 colours.

Repeat for each colour of the rainbow and then add a foam heart sticker to match each lid if you have some available! (These are from FlyingTiger Store though there are many similar stickers around.)

How beautiful do they look?! If you watch the video you’ll be able to see how mesmerising it is to watch the glitter slowly falling each time the bottles are shaken. These are often used as a calm down tool as it helps a child to take deep breaths and focus on the movement, taking a moment to regain control and concentration. I hear they’re great for impatient parents at the witching hour too, but what would I know?! ;-D

After that we read our copy of The Story of the Kindness Elves again and looked especially at the page about the kindness elves using their very special potions to paint colours onto the rainbow. You can see them painting the rainbow here on the front cover and each special pot contains a different character virtue that forms the building blocks of a kind and caring heart.

This is what each colour represents:

Red = Kindness

Orange = Joy

Yellow = Love

Green = Patience

Blue = Peace

Purple = Gentleness

Pink = Compassion

[Side note about the book! When my wonderful book illustrator, Naomi Berry, showed me her first drafts for this page of the book I was surprised that she had chosen Love to be yellow instead of pink (the typical colour association we all make I am sure!) But then I realised how much I loved that choice because love is indeed SO sun-shiney, bright and golden, it was perfect! When I look at it now it reminds me of smiles and happiness and I love it!]

We made a tiny label for each of these lovely virtues and stuck it on to the corresponding bottle. Now we have Kindness Potions just like from the book!

The kids have really loved these tiny sensory bottles. Firstly, they’re just so fun to keep turning over and shaking up to see that beautiful glitter fall and swirl so slowly. It’s a fun bit of science to discuss WHY does the glitter fall slowly and what other ingredients have helped that to happen? We also tried simply adding glitter to water to compare, which showed that although also very pretty to watch, it fell quickly and didn’t swirl around in the same way.

Secondly, and more importantly, these have become an invaluable tool for discussion. We now keep them in a basket next to our copy of The Story of the Kindness Elves and they like to play with them while reading it. But we also pick them out and talk about the particular character virtue contained in each one, giving real life examples of how best we can show this towards others and try and develop it more.

For example the other night before dinner time, in that fraught hour or so of the day when everyone is cranky and squabbling, Miss 6 came and helped herself to the green bottle of Patience and started to turn it slowly in her hands. She said “I am really needing this right now as “Miss 4″ is really annoying me! I am trying not to be cross with her.” I wasn’t quite expecting them to come and use the bottles in that way and I love how it has inspired some mindfulness and self-reflection in that way. Long may it continue because we need it!

For toddlers and preschoolers the colours and sparkles are enough for discovery and amazement! They’re a great size for toddler hands to hold and shake and they look lovely when rolled along the floor too. You could use them to start a colour hunt and match other objects to each one!

In a classroom this could be an invaluable tool for discussion and calm down time too, maybe including them in a basket alongside a sand timer and some books about feelings too.

Passing each bottle around the circle and using it as away to talk about ways to demonstrate kindness and empathy towards others would be a great circle time prompt!

If you are a teacher who plans to use the Kindness Elves as a PHSE tool in your school then you may be interested to know that we’ve also got a Kind Classroom eBook and materials which you can find on our Kindness Elves website here too.

It contains lesson plans, loads of circle time and whole class game ideas and printables to use in the classroom. Many teachers are using it and loving it already! 

Have you read The Story of the Kindness Elves yet? I’d love to hear what you think of it and to know if it has inspired any acts of kindness in your home or school!

See a full archive of RAINBOW PLAY & LEARNING IDEAS here.

And loads more posts about THE KINDNESS ELVES here!

If you loved our Kindness Potions Sensory Bottles then please share them! Thank you.