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When pirates aren’t on their ship, they are usually near the ocean. In my mind, ocean equals beach equals sand. So when we were doing our pirates unit, I thought it would be fun to create this sand in a bottle craft. 🙂
Although we did this craft as a tie-in to our pirate unit, it would also be a great way to talk about the layers of the earth and to show kids what happens in an earthquake.
Note: For more fun craft ideas, see my arts and crafts for kids page.
To make our sand in a bottle crafts, we gathered the following materials:
- Craft sand
in a variety of colors
- Tall, thin bottles
- Funnels
- Spoons
- Trays to catch any mess
I showed my kids how to use the spoon and funnel to pour sand into their bottles. Then I let them choose colors to add.
They quickly saw that the colors they added formed beautiful layers at the bottom of their bottles.
We did our best to fill our bottles all the way to the top with sand. The less empty space you leave, the less the materials inside will shift as the kids handle the bottles.
After the kids filled their bottles to the top, they screwed on the lids. I then sealed the lids with hot glue to ensure the kids wouldn’t accidentally take them off and spill sand everywhere.
The bottles turned out beautiful. The kids learned about layering. And despite our attempts to leave no empty space, the kids also saw that their sand layers shifted if they shook and moved the bottles too much.
So in the end, this was not only a craft project but also a science lesson. 🙂
More art resources and ideas
Note: For more fun craft ideas, see my Arts and Crafts for Kids page and my Arts and Crafts Pinterest board.
Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Arts and crafts on Pinterest.