Make this spider web discovery bottle for plenty of spooky, minibeast fun for babies, toddlers and preschoolers! A great DIY toy for rolling, tipping, watching, wondering and even counting too, plus SO easy to make!
Materials Needed:
Voss water bottle (or similar wide, clear design)
Warm water
Strong glue (optional)
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How to make a spider web discovery bottle:
Tear small pieces of kitchen towel and set in a pile ready to use as spooky spider webs.
Fill a Voss bottle 3/4 full with warm water. Top it up nearly to the top with the glycerin then drop in the torn kitchen towel, a handful of mini spiders and a large sprinkling of the silver glitter.
Glue the lid shut tight (if your child is of an age when they’d be likely to open it!)
Now give it a good shaking to mix it all up and watch the contents falling slowly, suspended in their sparkly, spooky liquid!
For a baby or toddler this is just a perfect type of toy for discovery and wonder! It’s a feast for their senses and will provoke lots of thinking and amazement. They can watch it, shake it, roll it and crawl or toddle after it.
Use it alongside your child as a way to talk to them and point out what they can see, naming the spiders and even starting to count them as you point.
Use it as a singing or story prop starter, using it alongside the singing of Incy Wincy Spider (Itsy Bitsy to our American friends!) or while reading a favourite spider themed story book. [Here’s a great selection of spider story books to get you started!]
Add it to a spider themed sensory basket along with a spider soft toy, book, spider puppet or story spoon!
Use it as a calm down resource for a child who is anxious or needs to find their calm breathing again, by encouraging them to turn the bottle over four or five times, watching the spiders fall all the way down to the bottom before turning it again. This is a really helpful method for some children. [You may love our Kindness Sensory Bottles for pursuing this idea further too!]
For older kids this could be an awesome DIY craft activity at a Halloween party! Let them use a wider range of materials to put inside to make spook-tacluar sensory bottles!
Want to use these same spiders for a learning activity?
Check out our SPIDER COUNTING and MATHS TRAY where we used them in a new way!
And this SPIDER FINE MOTOR GAME is great fun for little hands too!
And you might love our Spider Play Dough Activity Tray with lots of fun ways to learn numbers and practise fine motor muscle strengthening too!
If you loved this spider web discovery bottle please do share with friends and colleagues! Thank you 🙂
[This post contains Amazon affiliate links to help you find products I recommend more easily. I may earn a small commission through these purchases at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting me!]
I’m a big fan of sensory play, as it has so many benefits for children’s development, plus it’s great fun. This is so simple, but really effective.