A pine needle discovery bottle

Bring wonder into your classroom with these easy to make discovery bottles!

There is just something about pinecones and pine needles that are so inviting and so beautiful. I wanted my students to take a closer look at the pine needles so I made up a few pine needle discovery bottles to add to our classroom collection…

Preparing the Materials

The materials are simple. I only added water and pine needles to the bottles and I hot glued the lids closed.  As the children looked through the bottles, the pine needles were magnified by the curves of the bottles which really gives an interesting perspective of the pine needles…

I am always collecting different sizes and shapes of water bottles so I invited the children to make their own pine needle discovery bottles too…

Steps to Making a Discovery Bottle

They started by adding a one or more pine needle branches to their water bottle and then filling up the bottle with water almost to the top…

Once the water was added, the children added a few pinches or spoon fulls of glitter to their bottle…

Then the children brought the bottles over to me and I added hot glue to the inside of their lids and put them on the bottles…

These were pretty tall bottles and perhaps a bit on the heavy side too:)   But the children loved them and enjoyed shaking the glitter with both hands and watching the glitter land all around their pine needles…

Investigating with Discovery Bottles

The children took their pine needle discovery bottles home at the end of the day and I set mine back up on our discovery shelf for children to continue to explore and wonder… I cannot wait to see where these discovery bottles take the children to next!

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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