I Spy Bottles {Tutorial}

I Spy Bottles make super fun gifts or car activities! We made several of these for Christmas one year and I had the more fun collecting all the tiny items to put inside. You can really use your imagination to find tiny items that fit in the bottle. Some I bought and some I had around the house, but either way kids love these I Spy Bottles.

I Spy Bottles Tutorial –

We had SO much fun collecting all the little things to  put in these I spy bottles. We spent the fall putting aside hundreds of little objects. I also bought a few thing: charms, ornaments that were made for tiny trees, specialty buttons in the shape of fun things, and lots of little items we just found. All these were tucked away until we sat down to make the bottles. We sorted out all our items and split them into four groups {how many bottles we wanted to make} I typed up a list for each of the bottles, and covered them with contact paper. We ended up having 55 things in each of the bottles. I would recommend  that you have around this many items per I Spy Bottle. Oh, and make sure your check that all your things fit in the bottle before you type the list. {I know from experience!!!}

How to make an I Spy Bottle-

You will need:

• sand {fine}
• Small Items {around 50 for each bottle}
• List of the exact items in each bottle
• 1 2 liter bottle for each

Now comes the hard part, you have to drink lots of soda and save the bottles {force yourself!} {ha} Clean any stickers off the outside and fill about 1/2 full with sand.

Now, start adding your little treasures. Keep track of what you put in each one and then you can create your final list from that. 

Aren’t some of these fun! I love the little tools.  I got them at Hobby Lobby in the little tree section. They were a bit pricey, but they were super cute! I bought a tool pack and a kitchen utensil pack. We also used colored buttons, glass stones, foam shapes, and other random items. If you are making several bottles you can buy packages of fun buttons and then divide between the bottles.

When everything is in, put the cap on tight and shake up! Then have a blast searching for all the little treasures you just buried.

I love all the I Spy projects… blankets, photos, etc.. and have yet to make one of those. I did finally make this fun I Spy Bottle project though and it was a huge success. Everyone who got one as a gift thought they were super unique and SO.MUCH.FUN.  I think these I Spy Bottles are a great gift for kids 3-6.