It was a hot one the other day, and I wanted to do something new to keep cool outside.  I just so happened to have a couple of empty gelato containers… so I put together these easy ice cube sensory bottles.

I filled the bottles all the way to the top with ice,  then added a little water and some food coloring.  N loved shaking the bottles, and the ice cubes made an interesting sound against the sides of the bottles.  These are plastic bottles, but for a different sound, you could try doing the same thing in glass mason jars.

N is teething right now, so she also really enjoyed putting the ice cube sensory bottle against her gums.  The bottles actually stayed cold for much longer than I was expecting in the 90+ degree weather, so they did serve my purpose of keeping us cool in the summer heat.

L also enjoyed experiencing the ice cube sensory bottles.  She liked talking about the colors and experimenting with rolling and dropping the bottles.  Since she is older, we were also able to talk about how the sound the bottles made changed as the ice cubes became smaller and smaller, as well as what happens to ice when it gets too hot!

I think next time we will make one ice cube jar, one room temp water jar, and one warm water jar to explore different temperatures — but definitely not until it cools down a bit out there!