Two Ideas for Making a Pumpkin Sensory Bottle with Kids

Here are two pumpkin sensory bottle ideas we recently created. Be sure to add them to your own collection of preschool pumpkin activities.

They’re pretty simple, but we’re rather fond of the pumpkin glitter jars! They’re so much fun to make, and a ton of early learning concepts can be explored with them.

You can make adjustments to my directions based on your own preferences and materials you have on-hand. So don’t feel like you have to make your own pumpkin discovery bottle exactly the same way we did.

Related: Big List of Sensory Play Ideas

Pumpkin Sensory Bottle

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

To start off this little project, we made sure to have two clean, empty round bottles. We used recycled bottles from a flavored water drink, but I’m sure there are round bottles to be found at a lot of craft stores.

Once the jars were cleared out, we measured how much water would fit in each. About one-and-a-half cups of liquid fits inside the round bottles we used. We poured about a cup’s worth of light corn syrup into a measuring cup, and then we added a half cup of hot tap water. The kiddo and I mixed the liquids together in the measuring cup until they were combined. All the liquid was then poured into the empty bottle.

Then it was time for the fun part – glitter! These discovery bottles are perfect, even if you aren’t a fan of glitter like I am. The glitter is contained, so the only possibility of a glittery mess is if you spill some while making the jars. Not that I’ve ever done that or anything. . .

Related: Pumpkin Sensory Bin

We decided to make two different pumpkin jars with two different types of glitter. In one of the bottles, we added jack-o-lantern confetti. In the other, we combined a variety of orange glitter from my “good glitter” stash. You know you love glitter when you have a distinction between the “glitter” and the “good glitter” stashes!

Once we’d added enough glitter to both bottles, we put the tops on. The tops are blue, so Engineer suggested wrapping green pipe cleaners around them to act like pumpkin stems. I hot glued two pipe cleaners to each top, and made sure to secure the jar tops as I was doing so.

Then it was time to just shake up each glitter jar and observe as the glitter and confetti floated and settled. We liked the ratio of corn syrup to water with these jars. If you want the glitter to settle faster, you could try using less corn syrup.

Here’s a peek at making your own pumpkin sensory bottle:

Related: Pumpkin Seed Painting

what can kids learn with a glitter jar?

As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of learning opportunities while making and using glitter jars. Here are just some of the educational benefits of a discovery bottle:

• Measurement
• Number identification
• Volume
• Color identification
• Cause and effect

Have you ever made a glitter jar or a different type of sensory bottle?

pumpkin lesson plans for home or preschool

If you’re looking for pumpkin-themed lesson plans be sure to check these out. There are plans for homeschool preschool or preschool classrooms. Each contains a full week’s worth of lessons, along with printables to use with the kiddos.

Preschool Teacher 101 | Home Preschool 101 | Teachers Pay Teachers