Supplies:
- A Bottle
- 6 TBSP Clear Extra Hold Hair Gel
- 1 Cup of Water
- Alphabet Beads
- Glitter
Before you begin you here are a few tips for the level of difficulty for the age of your child. Ultimately, you know them best, but here are my thoughts:
- For 4 years old I suggest doing a letter find sensory bottle instead of words. “Find the letters A, B, C, D, E” and you could use the glitter as added fun “Find 3 blue raindrop glitters”. Keep the glitter minimal so they can see the letters clearly.
- For 6 years old a few small words would be good. Double the words when you add them into the bottle. For example, for the word CAT, put in 2 letter C’s, 2 letter A’s and 2 letter T’s. It makes the word find a little easier. You may get the impression that this would be too easy for a 6 year old, but one thing to keep in mind is that some letters are hidden so the bottle will need to be shaken in order to bring the letters to the front where they are visible.
- For 8 years old you can strengthen the difficulty level by adding larger words with more filler letters and glitter to the bottle.
The first step is to add 6 tablespoons of hair gel to 1 cup of water. I chose this consistency because it is thick enough that the letters stay in one place during the word find, however, it is also loose enough that when your child has completed the puzzle, you can give it a good shake to mix all of the letters up again for a new hunt. Alternatively you could make the consistency thinner so that the letters fall through the bottle. You could make it a fun game by having your child tip the bottle over and say “Find the word STAR before the letters get to the bottom.
To make sure your consistency is correct, add one letter and shake the bottle and turn it over to make sure you are happy with it. When you have the consistency to your liking, choose what words you will put in the bottle (see above for my suggestions based on your child’s age) and keep note so that you can make a corresponding card OR you print the one I have made.
Add the letters, glitter, and top to the bottle and give it a good shaking. The hair gel and water mixture will appear cloudy and that is completely normal. Let it sit overnight and it will clear up. To get rid of the foamy bubbles that have gathered on top, squeeze your bottle over a sink so that the foam rises to the top and swipe it off with your finger. Repeat until all of the foam is gone.
The words I added were: DOG, JOY, EYE, BOW, FIX, CAT. If you use the same words, please help yourself to this free printable card I made. Click to download.
For the printable I used clear packing tape on the front and back and cut off the excess tape. To tie it to the bottle I used clear stretchy elastic, taped it to the back of the card and than tied it to the lid of the bottle.