This project is a start of many that we are working on for our slow time – time in the car on the road, or waiting for a meal at a restaurant, or simply kicking back in the backyard on a hot day. The most important requirement for our “road crafts” is that they stir the child’s curiosity in the process of making them as much as when they are playing with them afterwards. Best of all, you’ll have most, if not all, of the needed supplies already in your home.
Treasure in a Bottle
Tools
- empty and dry plastic water bottle with lid
- 3-5 cups of rice or other grain (we used quinoa)
- small colorful objects to place inside the treasure bottle
- spoon, large bowl and optional: funnel
- glue
Steps
1. Place the empty water bottle into a large bowl. This keeps it stable and reduces the amount of spilled grain.
2. Place a funnel into the bottle. This makes it easier to pour in the rice without spilling. In the absence of a funnel, we used a piece of paper and formed it into a cone/funnel. Pour a cup of rice (or quinoa, which we used, or other grain).
3. Pick your most colorful objects and drop 4-6 into the bottle over rice. I bought a big bag of buttons from Michael’s recently and it included a lot of the fun-shaped buttons – bears, gingerbread man, pacifier, tree, bees, flowers, cats and more. These were perfect for our treasure bottle objects. You can also use colorful beads, or miniature toys from the vending machines most hot dog places have. The objects just have to be bright to stand out in the bottle, they have to be fun for kids, and, finally, they have to fit through the bottleneck.
4. Continue the pattern – more rice covered with more treasures. Stop when the bottle is half full. If you want to make it more challenging, go to three quarters full. Anything above that will make it too hard to move the rice to find any treasure.
5. Secure the bottle cap with glue. Let it dry.
6. Start looking for treasure! Kids can simply look for treasure in the bottle, or you can have them find specific objects. This treasure in a bottle will offer both fun for kids and quite a few moments of silence for you.
