I'm so excited to share the blog one more time with one of my sweet friends, Katie, who is also a super talented preschool teacher! She writes over at Preschool Inspirations and she's going to share some of her favorite discovery bottles in this post (last week she shared her favorite rainbow activities for preschoolers).

For those of you who missed my post last week, I’m Katie, and I’ve enjoyed the incredible job of teaching little ones as an Early Childhood educator for 14 years. For six of those years, I’ve also had the extra delight of being a mama. I have three sweet children, and two have already gone through preschool with me!

Preschool is a magical time – definitely one of my favorite ages -- and I believe in making it a place where learning is just as enchanting. I teach children to learn about the world with their senses and invite my students to connect with it through hands-on play. I'm excited to share another type of activity that my students find magical: Discovery Bottles.

My best “tool” as a preschool teacher and mom is a calm down jar, also known as a glitter jar or mind jar. I think it is a must have for children, and it’s great for adults too! I tried to find ingredients that are available to our international friends in Six Ways to Make a Calm Down Jar (pictured top right).

We love these Magnetic discovery bottles. You can see the science lesson we did with it, and then I figured out how to make a magnetic discovery bottle in liquid without rusting (pictured above left)!

Of course I had to combine rainbows with a discovery bottle (again!), and I did it in this Rainbow Alphabet Discovery Bottle.

One of the best aspects of discovery bottles is observing how different materials combine with one another. In my Magic Two Ingredient Sensory Bottle, there appears to be only one ingredient until you turn it over.

Another fun way to learn through playing with discovery bottles is with a Color Mixing Sensory Bottle (pictured third down from the top on the right). We also came up with a way to mix two colors together as well, which you can see here!

You can also use discovery bottles to explore sound and music, as we did with our Musical Shaker Discovery Bottle (pictured second down from the top on the right).

Last but not least,  my own personal favorite discovery bottle is our Suspended Ocean Creature Discovery Bottle. It looks so realistic, and the ocean creatures “float” in place (pictured bottom right)!

Another place to find some of the best rainbow activities and discovery bottles is right here on Fun at Home with Kids! I adore these rainbow play ideas, and these rainbow discovery bottles are hands-down some of the most beautiful and inviting ones I’ve ever laid eyes on.

For more preschool ideas, activities, and resources, feel free to come visit me over at Preschool Inspirations. I also love chatting with my readers over on Facebook, and you can see some of my favorite ideas on Pinterest.