Easy DIY Glowing Sensory Bottle for Bedtime

Let’s learn how to make a sensory bottle today! This glowing galaxy sensory bottle is not only a fun craft to make, but it is a great way get your younger kids to calm down before bed. A galaxy sensory bottle is an amazing way to get your child to focus and settle down. It is obviously perfect for toddlers, preschooler and kindergarten age kids, but older kids love to play with them too!

How To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Bedtime is not the time for play, for toys, or for fifteen drinks. We needed something that would help calm our active and not-yet reading children as they drifted off. That is why we made this calming bottle craft! Bed time IS time for a bottle full of sparkles and glowing stars that will remind you of the milky way.

What Is A Sensory Bottle?

A sensory bottle is a container that has a fluid and various materials inside. The items inside the bottle float and fall in the bottle and is a fun way for a child to experience the world in a different way. The sensations around a sensory bottle can be calming and help kids quiet their mind and body.

What Are The Benefits Of A Sensory Bottle?

A sensory bottle can stimulate the senses of your child and their cognitive system. A sensory bottle can calm while your child quietly explores the sight and touch sensations. Sensory bottles can help support different stages of child development and is a great way to calm a child and help ease their agitation and anxiety allowing them to relax.

Supplies Needed To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Instructions To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Step 1

Squirt the glitter glue in the bottom of the bottle.

Step 2

Add a small amount of glow in the dark paint. Just a good squirt. 

The glitter glue will add some sparkle and the paint will add just a hint of glow to the whole bottle.

Step 3

Add in a bottle of hair gel almost to the top. The gel is great for resistance – so the stars don’t immediately fall to the bottom of the bottle, and the little air bubbles inside the gel simulate all the little stars in the galaxy.  

Step 4

Add your glow in the dark stars to your bottle.

Tip: We added a couple of tablespoons of water as our gel was a little too thick.  I wanted the stars to fall, with a little resistance. My thick hair gel had the stars floating.

Step 5

Once you have the consistency you want…Super glue the lid onto the bottle. VERY important! You don’t want your child waking up in a soup of sticky hair-gel!

Finished. I love it!

Step by Step Pictures for DIY Sensory Bottle

How We Use The Sensory Bottle

It can be hard for kids to decompress or calm-down for bedtime. If your child says they are having problems going to sleep, hand them the bottle and ask them to count the stars. There are about 50 of the mini-stars in this bottle. My guess is that they won’t count them all.

If your child is too young, you can count with them or just let them shake the bottle and watch until all the stars fall and repeat.

Variations On The Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

• We also did one where we used multiple color hair gels and layered them. Shaking it will obviously mix it up, but it’s also really neat at first.
• You can add water to different levels. The different water amounts will leave some of the gel heavier than others.
• Or you can add acrylic paint to clear hair gel.

More Sensory Activities From Kids Activities Blog:

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How did your glowing galaxy sensory bottle turn out? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.