Pot of Gold Rainbow Shaker for Sensory Play

Rainbows are such a fun Spring theme, after the cold winter they can’t help but brighten up your mood. We made these quick and easy pot of gold rainbow shaker sensory bottles in about ten minutes, and they are fun to play with once you’re done – exploring the visual, tactile and auditory senses.

To make this simple rainbow shaker you will need:

• Pretend gold coins
• Clear bottle – make sure it has a wide enough neck to fit the coins inside. I had to try a couple of options before I got one that worked!
• Gold pipe cleaners (optional)
• Cotton wool balls or white pom poms
• Ribbons in rainbow colours
• Tape and / or glue

How to make the pot of gold rainbow shaker

First you need to place of the gold coins inside your bottle, this is a chance for some quick fine motor practice for any little ones helping out with the making. The amount you put in will change how the shaker sounds, so you can experiment with different amounts.

Add a couple of gold pipe cleaners for extra sparkle, or gold sequins if you want!

Screw the lid on tightly. Since there’s no water or oil in the container as there would be for some of our sensory bottles, I didn’t see the need to glue the lid on. If you have a younger baby or toddler and are worried about the possibility of the lid coming off and some of the coins being placed in the mouth, then you may want to glue it shut as a precautionary measure.

Next, you’re ready to put together your rainbow. Get your child to sort the colours into order if they can, and name all the colours of the rainbow. There are so many fun rainbow songs that you can sing to help them out with this if needed. I’ll share a couple at the end of the post.

Luckily we had ribbons to hand in most of the rainbow colours, not indigo though so we did cheat a little and swap that out for a pink ribbon at the end.

Once you have the ribbons all in order, secure them together with tape, then attach to the top of the bottle.

Now all you need to do is attach some white pom poms or cotton wool balls for clouds.

Now you have your rainbow and your pot of gold at the end and you’re ready to shake and sing and watch the rainbow colours streaming in the air.

We added our cotton wool with glue dots, but they can be a bit tricky to get them to stick down firmly. A hot glue gun might be your best option.

I love the look of the ribbon rainbow flying around. It’s also very tactile for children to touch and explore. I loved anything satiny or ribbon-y as a child.

Shakers are great for any age from babies up to early school age. All of my children still enjoy shaking things and making a lot of noise!

Songs and games for your rainbow shaker

Some of the rainbow songs that we enjoy are:

I can sing a rainbow

Peppa Pig rainbow song

You might also like:

• How musical shakers can be used for speech and language development (including more games and songs)

More Rainbows

• Rainbow Vision Glasses
• Rainbow Tactile Sensory Bin
• Rainbow Wet Felting

More Sensory Bottles and Sensory Play

See all of our sensory play posts here