Sunday, November 28, 2010

I-spy bottle

Pin It I've seen these all over the internet lately and decided it was time to make one for my kids. I had this great bottle that had hot chocolate in it that I got at a specialty home store. I thought it would be perfect for this, and it was. I searched the house for small things to put in the bottle, and in no time at all I had a pretty good collection. It's amazing how much garbage small treasures you can find in your home when you really search. I put this together in no time at all and Kirsten ADORES it. It cost me next to nothing to make - I already had everything I needed to make it on hand. Here's the directions:






What you'll need:

1 plastic bottle
small items/toys
rice
hot glue gun

Directions:

1. make sure bottle is clean and dry
2. lay out all your small items/toys and take a picture of them
3. print this picture out and laminate it if you can
4. start filling bottle alternating rice with a few toys until bottle is about 3/4 full - you want to leave some room at the top so you can shake and move the rice around the bottle
5. unless you want a large mess on your hands - use a hot glue gun and glue the lid on!
6. give the bottle to your kids with a picture of the items in it and have them find all the items.

Every shake will show new treasures:



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Posted by at 8:17 AM
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74 comments:

  1. Very creative! That turned out great! I just bought something like this for Katie for Christmas and paid $30.

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  3. Very cute idea! Love it! And yes, its amazing how many trinkets we can find! :)
    I’m stopping by from No Time For Flash Card’s “Show Us your Best”. I hope you’ll do the same! You can see read my “best” @ http://sofiasideas.com/2010/11/27/shrink-that-growing-giant-2/

    Sofia’s Ideas

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  6. This would be so perfect to pull out when you're grocery shopping to amuse the kids. And those little toys from the Christmas crackers will be perfect for this. I'm going to save those toys and make one of these for sure!

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  7. That's a great idea, and a lot cheaper than the ones they sell. My kids have fun playing with those at our pediatrician's office.

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  8. Hi Jill,

    I'm working on my eye spy bottles as we speak :)
    The hold-up has been finding little things...I am so sorry now that I parted with my eraser collection...it would be perfect!

    Love your pictures!! Yours really turned out nicely...that bottle is cool!!

    Georgia

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  9. making a few for my grand kids... I like to be the fun Nana!!

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  10. Jill, as always, I LOVE the stuff you share! I would love to make something like this for my kids (and their cousins). Where did you find your little items? I need to go on a hunt! ;)

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  11. Thanks ladies!

    Rachel - I actually found most of the trinkets lying around my house. Most of them came from the dollar store originally though. Were there any specific ones you were looking for?

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  12. I've never heard of this! This is just brilliant - thanks so much for sharing.

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  13. Thank you for this! I just made one for an older brother gift for a baby shower, something to keep him occupy when his mom is in labor! I found a lot of my small things at a Party City, like the 35 cent section! And I used a Voss water bottle that I got at Harris Teeter. Thanks for the inspiration!!

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  15. I made these for my kiddos using kraft mayo jars. We colored the rice for my oldest & it is much harder to find the "treasures"!
    Recently, we used empty water bottles & made them at a church summer camp! We cut card stock circles, had the kids make a list of what was inside & glued them to the bottom of the bottle. They turned out great & it was so easy on the budget!!

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  16. Great idea!! Love it!! Easy, cheap, and fun!! Brilliant!!

    We host a linky party “Help a Momma Out” every Tuesday. This would be a perfect link up for mommas! Please feel free to add it :) We appreciate it! Thanks for sharing!

    Kristine
    www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

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  17. What type of bottle is in the picture? It is the perfect shape!

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  18. It's actually a bottle that I had from some specialty hot chocolate. It's exactly the same as a Voss water bottle though. I hope that helps!

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  19. I just wanted to let you know I included this in my 2011 Ultimate DIY Gift Guide (101 tutorials/recipes)! :) http://danimariedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/10/2011-ultimate-diy-gift-guide.html

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  21. LOVE it! Great idea, I posted a picture of the ones we made on my blog today with a link to your post. :) Thanks!
    http://lifeofamodernmom.blogspot.com/2011/10/ispy-jar.html

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  23. Just found this on Pinterest & love it! We'll be in the car for 17 hours this weekend so I'm going to try to make one before we leave. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. Thanks Misti! These are great for a long car ride.

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  25. This looks so cool!!! Do you think you could use sand instead of rice?

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  26. Thanks The Baker!

    I can't see why you wouldn't be able to use sand. I would definitely glue on the lid though! That would be a big mess if it came open.

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  27. Found this on pinterest! Thank you for the brilliant idea. I found a bath salts container at the dollar store (plastic, because I think my 2 yr old would break a glass one) and some little things I had laying around the house. She's going to love this!!

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  28. This is a great idea! I am wanting to make some of these for my daughters teacher. Thought these would be good inside recess activities. I am having problems finding bottles that look nice and are wide enought to fit toys through the top. The VOSS water through Amazon is so expensive but it looks really nice. Any other ideas for a bottle?

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  29. Ebay has empty VOSS water bottles for sale. Just bought 3 for $9. I think these will make the gifts look great! Yours looks awesome!

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  30. Thanks ladies!

    Brooke - I'm so happy you found some! Who would have thought they would have them on Ebay?!?! I guess they truly do have everything.

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  31. My son and I made these to give to his friends at daycare. Thank you so much for the idea. I LOVE READING YOUR BLOG.

    http://theleahyletters.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-spy-with-my-little-eyes.html

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  32. Awesome Amanda! I'm sure the kids will love them.

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  33. A little late here, but love the idea! How big are these bottles? Did you use the big, 27 oz or just the 16.9 oz ones? Just trying to figure out which would work better....Thanks!!!

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  34. Hi Teresa! The ones in the pictures above was the big 27oz. I've also used the 16.9oz ones for them too though and they worked just fine. You can obviously put more stuff in the bigger ones though! I hope that helps.

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  35. Great idea! I have some vintage bottles i will do it with.

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  37. I love this idea! I found your blog via Pinterest & chose this as one of my favorite pins from the week to recreate. :) I blogged about it here: http://www.pinfluence.com/2012/01/17/easy-to-make-i-spy-bottle/

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  38. Thank-you so much pinfluence!

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  39. Micheal's has buttons that are different shapes and are small enough to fit in a regular old water bottle (like you buy at the grocery store). The buttons are kind of pricy, but with a 40% off coupon they are great. I am a kindergarten teacher and I am going to make 5 or 6 of them this summer for the kids to use at choice time. I am going to take a picture of the contents and laminate and then the students will check them off with a visa-via marker.

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  40. Thanks for the great ideas Kiehn!

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  41. Did you use the glass or plastic Voss bottles? I was wondering if the label comes off easily since I had trouble removing the glue from a plastic Smart Water bottle. Great project...I can't wait to make these for a couple of kids that are dealing with extended hospital stays!

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  42. Hi Cynthia! I use the plastic voss bottles when I make these. The one in the picture is a glass bottle because that's all I had when I made it, but I've since made lots of these and used the plastic. I didn't have any trouble removing the labels. If you ever have any sticker residue, just take a little butter and some paper towel and rub it off. It works wonders!

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  43. That butter tip was absolutely a time saver and worked perfectly! Thank you so much for answering my questions...and I now have a butter labeled "craft" in the frig! ;)

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  44. Awesome Cynthia! I use that trick all the time!

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  45. I made one of these filling it with wedding rings and white sand. Thanks for the great idea on Pinterest. I put it on my blog. Pattysprettiescards.blogspot.com

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  47. Thanks for the idea! I have been collecting things for the past few days since I first saw a picture of this on Pinterest. Here are some of the items I have been collecting: Barbie Shoes, small rubber ball, rhinestones, gumball, foam flower sticker, small dice, marbles, tiny plastic clam shells, paper clips, beads, glitter, random squinkies I find laying around and much more. We have a road trip tomorrow so I think I am making one tonight so it will be ready :)

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  48. That's wonderful Crystal. I've since made a few more of these for my kiddos too and put in some new items. It's amazing what you kind find - those squinkies are awesome for it - and it gets them off my floor, lol! Good luck with your road trip!

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  49. I love this idea! We are going to Disney World this summer, and I will be making a couple of these to take along with us.

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  50. Thanks Brandy! Good luck with them and have fun at Disney!

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  51. I love this idea and had so much fun gathering all the stuff to make these! So far I've finished a mini bottle for my toddler that I broke out on a car trip this week. He loved it!! I got such a kick out of watching him giggle, shake it, giggle more, turn it, giggle, call out stuff he saw...priceless. I wrote about it on my blog (twice, actually). Here's the more recent post... http://auroraspitfire.blogspot.com/2012/03/some-new-toys-fun-time-friday-came.html

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  52. oh, and I linked back to here, obviously. :)

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  53. That is so awesome Katherine! I'm so glad your little guy loved it!

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  54. This is a terriffic idea. Thank you for the very visual instructions. I re-pinned it on Pinterest
    with your blog address. Just love it!
    Carol / Autism Learn
    www.autismlearn101.com

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  55. Awesome Carol! Thank-you so much!

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  56. I'm going to use this for a party game and add
    in letter cubes the birthday girls name (just a added puzzle to figure out) I think it will be cool. You could incorporate the party theme into the items to find in the bottle. Our theme is icecream cones.

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  57. Awesome idea Peg! Thanks so much for sharing! The girls will love them.

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  59. I am wondering if you or anyone here has ever tried to get these onto an airplane? I made them for an upcoming trip and today it occurred to me that I might have trouble getting through security.

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    Replies

    1. No, I haven't! That never really crossed my mind, but you're totally right. Hopefully they'll realize that it's just a children's toy and everything will be fine! Good luck and have a great trip!

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  60. This is so nice. Thank you so much for sharing this idea.

    Car Trailers For Sale

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  62. I just found this on Pinterest and I'm making one for a long road trip for our toddler. I wasn't sure about what trinkets to use, but I found some cute packages of fun buttons at Michaels (tractor/car shapes, ducks, hearts, plus different colored buttons, pom poms, gems/marbles, and finally a penny and a pencil eraser.

    I'm making it in the morning because I just found the Voss water bottles for $1.49 at the grocery store!

    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Sounds awesome! Have a fun road trip!

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  63. Just pinned this - such a great learning toy - and free:)

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  64. Just wanted to say thank you for this post! I just got the boys' Christmas ones done :)

    http://houseofwoyaks.blogspot.com/2012/11/diy-i-spy-bottle.html

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    1. Thanks Heather! Yours look awesome!

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  65. This would be great also for anyone who has an old Cracker Jack toy collection.

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  66. How did you get the lettering off the glass bottles?

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    1. The glass bottle I used for this was an old hot chocolate bottle from a specialty store - it isn't a voss water bottle. I've since made these with voss water bottles - but I use the plastic ones where the labels are stickers and peel right off. I hope that helps!

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  67. I love this idea (have yet to make it--next on my list!) and wanted to let you know that I linked to it on my blog--I chose yours because I love the beautiful pictures you have that go along with it!
    Have a great weekend!
    Ang
    PS You can take a look at it here if you like:
    http://www.themommytalks.com/fun-with-sensory-bottles/

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