*** Thousands of infants and children have ended up in the hospital after ingesting water beads and many retailers are no longer selling them. I have removed my water bead product links out of an abundance of caution. ***
After my successful Suspended Fall Leaves discovery bottle, I have so many ideas for discovery bottles with clear water beads. Clear water beads are fun because when I put them in a bottle and add water, they virtually disappear. That means that if I add something else to the bottle, it appears to be suspended (but actually it is supported/surrounded by clear water beads). I just knew I would have to try making an aquarium with them, and I found some really great tiny sea animals on Amazon.
Making this bottle was actually much harder than I anticipated it would be. I knocked the bottle over countless times as I was trying to layer the water beads and the sea creatures, and had to start completely over each time. I don’t know what got into me, I have never knocked another sensory bottle over even once when I was making it!
The method that seemed to work best for me was to put in some water beads, then add a couple of sea creatures, get them oriented how I want using a wooden dowel, add more water beads, then a couple more sea creatures, etc. I would add water as I went if I needed to see things better. A few times, as I pushed one of the fish into place, it would mess up one of the items below it. If I tried to fix that item, it would disturb something else, and I would end up having to start completely over again. I would say that the results are worth the effort. I really like the way it turned out!
Once I got to the top of the bottle, I pushed as many clear water beads into the bottle as I could before I filled it with water and put on the lid. This kind of secured all of my sea creatures in place. I’m sure they would move a bit if the bottle was shaken, squeezed, or dropped, but I’m not going to try it and find out.
To make it interesting, I have a layer of yellow water beads on the bottom of the sensory bottle for “sand”. I also put a few blue/aqua water beads in randomly, thinking they might look like bubbles or something, but they aren’t very noticeable. I think it would look just as nice with 100% clear water beads.
After my creation was complete, I just had to try it out on my sensory bottle light (read this post to find out how I made it). The sensory bottle light makes the Aquarium Discovery Bottle look so neat. I especially like to make it rotate through all of the colors. Maybe it would make a fun night light!
If you are interested in making an Aquarium Discovery Bottle, here is what I used:
The links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).
- 11 oz VOSS water bottle – Target
- Water Beads
- Tiny sea creatures (I used a few different sets to create this bottle, but it would look great with even one)
- Coral Reef – Amazon
- Ocean – Amazon
- Sea Life – Amazon
- Fill to the top with water
- Super glue (for gluing the lid shut) – Amazon
Thank you for checking out my Aquarium Discovery Bottle!
“Let heaven and earth praise Him,
Psalms 69:34
The seas and everything that moves in them.”
~Sarah~
