Loom bands make ideal fillers for sensory bottles (aka discovery bottles). They are bright and colourful, small enough to easily fit inside any bottle, and float around nicely to create a cool effect. Making your own loom band sensory bottle is easy. It only takes a couple of minutes and 3 ingredients.
I’ve made a quick video to show just how super easy it is to make these simple sensory bottles, so check that out towards the end of the post.
First up – What are sensory bottles?
Sensory bottles are containers that have different materials inside to encourage and keep kids busy as they explore through their senses. You can use sensory bottles, aka discovery bottles or calm down jars, to explore each of the different senses and this loom band sensory bottle focuses on the visual sense.
Slowly watching the contents of the bottle floating through the water can help to calm or regulate and agitated child, serving as a tool to help them ground themselves and take a moment to process their emotions.
Or for a younger baby, watching the contents move around inside the bottle is an early lesson on how the world works – floating, sinking, how objects behave in water.
What are the Benefits of Sensory Play?
The benefits of sensory play include the following:
- Development of brain connections
- Sensory awareness and exploration
- Fine motor skills development
- Social development
For a more detailed break down on this topic, read our blog post on What is Sensory Play, and What are the Benefits?
Now that we have that question cleared up – on to the step by step instructions for your loom band bottle.
How to Make a Sensory Bottle with Loom Bands
To make your loom band sensory bottle you will need the following supplies.
- A few handfuls of loom bands in whatever colours you have available. These can be bought cheaply in pound shops or toy shops if you don’t have any
- Large empty water bottle. We use Voss water bottles, since I love their clean shape and design.
- A few drops of glycerin
- Water
How to make your loom band sensory bottle
Just drop each item into the bottle: loom bands first, then water, then glycerin.
The quantity of glycerin is up to you, it just serves to slow down the motion of the loom bands in the water.
If you don’t have any, feel free to miss it out. The sensory bottle will still work, but your loom bands will move a little freer and faster.
If you have a young baby and are worried about them getting into the bottle and into the loom bands, then glue the lid on with a hot glue gun.
Since my boys are out of that stage now, we just screw the lid on tightly which makes it easy to change the contents of the sensory bottle whenever we feel like it.
R loved watching the effect of the loom bands moving all around in the water. These sensory bottles are fun and calming for all ages to play with.
More Sensory Bottles
Want to create a full sensory bottle collection for your baby or child?
You might also like to try making these simple sensory bottles
- Glitter sensory bottle
- Glow in the Dark Sensory Bottles
- Autumn and Fall Sensory Bottles
- Pot of Gold Rainbow Shaker for Sensory Play
- Musical shaker sensory bottle
- Water Beads Sensory Bottle
- DIY Sensory Tube
- DIY Sensory Snow Globe
For even more sensory play ideas, follow our Pinterest board
Follow Anna – In The Playroom’s board Sensory play and activities on Pinterest.
And don’t forget to pin this idea for later!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Very cute! Great idea on reusing those looms! Thanks for linking up on Toddler Fun Friday!
So colorful and easy (my favorite kind, lol!) I love those Voss bottles too though I’m too cheap to buy them myself 😉
That is really sweet and works so well. So simple – and something to do with the 4 million loom bands we have lying around!
My loom band float to the top not sink to the bottom. Any advice?
Do they not float around within the bottle at all? I’m not sure as I didn’t have this issue with mine, I wonder if you tried a different brand of loom band whether it would make any difference?
Tried this for my granddaughter, it was hilarious. I used pink and purple loom bands. Give it a shake and mix them up, then the pink ones sunk to the bottom, while the purple ones floated to the top. It was great watching them slide past each other on their way to join their “family”.
This is a great idea and I’m pretty sure my 3 year old would spend a long time playing with this!
Oh this is the first time I’m hearing about loom band sensory bottles. So interesting and looks fun! I have a 1 year old godson, so I’m going to share this blog post to his mom so they can try it out. 🙂
I love this loom band sensory bottle idea! It’s such a simple and effective way to engage kids’ senses and provide a calming and mesmerizing experience. The colorful loom bands floating around inside the bottle create a captivating visual display. This DIY project is not only fun to make but also offers numerous benefits for sensory exploration and development. Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea!