Birthday Bottle

Purpose:         celebrate

Materials:        plastic bottle
                       clear corn syrup
                       birthday confetti
                       curling ribbon

Directions:    When a child has a birthday, invite them to help you make this special bottle.  Pour 1/3 cup of corn syrup in the bottle.  Let the child put in the birthday confetti.  (You might want to limit them to 15 things or they’ll dump in the whole bag.)  Glue on the lid.  Tie ribbon to the neck of the bottle.

Variations:   Children may want to decorate the outside of the bottle with stickers.

Similar bottles can be made as party favors for school parties.  For example, use red confetti hearts for Valentine’s Day, green shamrocks for St. Patrick’s day, menorahs for Hanukkah, etc.

Add glow in the dark objects to the corn syrup.

Picture Bottle

Purpose:       visual skills
                     self-esteem

Materials:      plastic bottle
                     photos of children

Directions:    Cut out photos of the children (or just use their faces) and put them in the bottle.  Screw on the lid.  Have the children turn the bottle around and name their friends.  Add a picture of the teacher or principal!

Variations:    Invite parents to make a “family bottle” with their child at home and send it to school.  They can cut out pictures of different family members for the bottle.  They can also put in things that are special to their child or things their child likes.