These winter sensory bottles are sure to inspire your sensory fun during the colder months. They’ll pair well with all your other winter activities for preschoolers.
Related: Winter Small World Play
I’m a big believer in this quote:
There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”
Alfred Wainwright
But sometimes there’s no way around being stuck inside during the winter. Adding lots of gross motor opportunities, like these alphabet movement activities, and extra sensory play activities can help.
Sensory bottles can have a big impact on children’s self-regulation skills (in addition to adult teaching and support, of course). There’s just something calming about watching the contents float through the bottle.
This list of winter sensory bottles will help you choose the perfect winter-themed additions to your classroom. And they’re full of so much learning!
Winter Sensory Bottles
As I said earlier, sensory bottles are a great way to keep kids engaged and learning in the cold winter months. And they offer a wonderful opportunity to teach students who might live in a warmer climate about cold weather, snow, and other topics related to winter.
One of my favorite things about sensory bottles is how easy they are to create. They can be customized based upon your preschool themes, the kids’ interests, and more. And most of them don’t require too many materials!
Below you’ll find over 15 winter discovery bottles to inspire you. Click on the highlighted, underlined links for more information about each of the bottles.
Winter-Themed Discovery Bottles
Let’s jump into some wonderful wintry discovery bottles! You can definitely get the kids involved in making them.
Related: Free Printable Winter Calendar Numbers
Bring the snow indoors with the blizzard in a bottle. Gently spinning this sensory bottle is such an great way to learn about a rare weather event.
The easy glitter discovery bottles uses foam snowflakes, which could offer some really interesting movement to look at!
Students can give this snowman a warm hug without worrying about him melting with a snowman sensory bottle.
Related: Icy Cold Learning Activities
Let students take their imaginations “into the unknown” with a Frozen-inspired sensory bottle.
Help your class come up with a cute story to go along with the snowmen in a snowstorm sensory bottle. They will love connecting the story to something tangible!
Speaking of stories, the Dream Snow sensory bottle pairs perfectly with Dream Snow from one of my favorite authors and illustrators, Eric Carle.
Related: How to Make Fake Snow with Flour
This snowman snow globe sensory bottle goes along with another winter favorite, Snowmen at Night.
Spread some joy with a blue and silver Christmas sensory bottle. You can definitely adapt it to be fully focused on winter, too.
I love the super colorful ingredients to these snowy, wintry shakers.
Related: Name Snowman Craft
Make some cute penguin sensory bottles to go along with a lesson about penguins!
Put the melted snowman sensory bottle out at the turn of the seasons, as winter turns to spring, to teach students about the changes in weather and temperature.
It wouldn’t surprise me if you have all the materials you need for the wintery snowman sensory bin and bottle in your classroom already. This activity is great for improving fine motor skills!
Even More Winter Sensory Bottles
The following discovery jars need a bit more adult involvement. In some cases, you might need to do the bulk of the work, depending on the needs and abilities of your students.
Related: Snow Painting With Water Balloons
I fell in love with the idea to create a glow-in-the-dark snowglobe! There is one special ingredient in the DIY glowing snow globe that makes it really pop under a black light!
Let the kids help you come up with some tiny tree decorations to use on the mason jar snow globe. This one is so gorgeous – it would also make a perfect gift!
Take the kids for a walk and teach them about things like pine cones and evergreens while they forage for materials for a lovely winter glitter calming bottle! If it’s too cold where you live, don’t worry! You can use artificial branches too.
Make a homemade snow globe with the kids this winter. These personalized snow globes are the perfect gift to send home to students’ families, and I adore the inclusion of children’s photos!
Well, there you have it – my favorite winter sensory bottles! I hope you and your class are able to make and enjoy a few of them.
Materials for Discovery Bottles
You might already have what you need to make some of your winter sensory bottles. I suppose that really depends on what’s in your teacher cabinet.
Here are some materials you might want to grab, if you don’t have them already (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
- Empty plastic sensory bottles
- Snowflake sequins
- Winter mini erasers
- Silver glitter
- Winter animal toys
- Cotton balls
Winter Book Recommendations
If you’re a regular reader of Fun-A-Day, you already know how much I love reading with the kids. It’s important on so many levels, from academics to social skills to emotional regulation. And there are SO many options of fun books for kids.
With that in mind, I’ve narrowed down a few of my favorite winter-themed books for preschoolers below for you to check out.
These are great for reading to students during circle time. They can also be set out for the kids to choose during free choice or center time. Children who may have difficulty falling asleep can also thumb through the stories during rest time. It doesn’t matter when or how the kids get their reading time in, it’s just important that they read, read, read!!!
Done-for-you Preschool Resources
I know just how hard it can be to juggle all the things in our lives – especially as teachers. Let Preschool Teacher 101 help save you some valuable time with all of our wonderful preschool resources!
Click on the images below to learn more about some of our favorite winter-themed resources.
Join the waitlist to become a member of The Pack by Preschool Teacher 101 today. You will get exclusive access to all of our resources with one of our three membership options.
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