Water Drops in Bottle Tops

We love reusing items that would otherwise end up in the rubbish bin, heading off to landfill. This mornings activity repurposed some of our collection perfectly – Water Drops in Bottle Tops!

Water Drops in Bottle Tops

We have almost hit the half way point of school holidays. Although we have been busying ourselves with fun outdoors while the sun is shining these winter days, we have also been revisiting lots of play ideas. These play ideas are some that I used to set up for Miss 5 when she was younger. It is exciting to watch Miss 2 explore similar activities as her sister used to enjoy.

While the days have been sunny, they have been chilly. Water play has not been a play focus for us lately as the girls just get wet and cold. This activity allows them to explore some water play without getting drenched.

What you need to set up your Water Drops in Bottle Tops

• Tray
• Bowl
• Coloured Water ( water & food colouring to act as a stronger visual aid)
• Pipette (We got ours from our local cheap shop in the craft section)
• Bottle tops / lids

Along side reusing items that would usually end up in the rubbish bin, another perk of this activity is that it is so quick and simple to set up!

I set up the bowl with coloured water to one side of the tray and then positioned the bottle tops upside down on the other. We have a little motto that helps us contain the mess (well so I hope to anyway) – ‘keep the play in the tray’. If you don’t have a tray, please don’t fret! The activity will work with as much success without it .

How to play Water Drops in Bottle Tops

The aim of this activity is a simple one. All you need to do is fill each of the bottle tops with the coloured water using the pipette.

Miss 5 has a well practised technique using the pipette. She has used them many times over the years. Miss 2 however, had her first time just today! It took a few minutes to develop the knack but with a little encouragement, it didn’t take too long for her to using the pipette beautifully.

“Squeeze the air out, place in the water and release.”

Using coloured water allowed the kids to see the water in the pipette with much more ease than if it had of been left clear.

Once each of the bottle tops had been filled with water, they were emptied back into the bowl and the pipette was passed to the next person. Water drops in bottle tops has a very clear beginning, middle and end which is great for practising turn taking!

Conversation Starters

This is a great activity to open up conversations about some mathematical concepts amongst other topics.

• How full is the bottle top?
• Which bottle top that has liquid in it is closest to the top?
• How many bottle tops have liquid in them?
• How many more bottle tops do you need to fill before they are all full?
• What do you think would happen if you only used two fingers to hold the pipette?
• What else can you think of that is half full in the house?
• How does the pipette feel to use?
• What else could we use the pipette to move around?
• How do you think jelly would work with this activity?

Educational Benefits

There are many educational benefits to this seemingly simple activity. Targeting Miss 2, we did create more of an emphasis on the fine motor skills that would be further developed when using the pipette. With this in mind, here are some other educational benefits that come hand in hand with this activity:

• Hand Eye Coordination
• Crossing the Midline
• Cause and Effect
• Problem Solving
• Logical Thinking Skills
• Social Skills
• Turn Taking Skills
• Language and Speech Development

Again and again, it is always the simplest of activities that seem to be the most successful! This bowl of coloured water and collection of plastic lids that would otherwise ended up in landfill had both girls fully engrossed in meaningful play.

If you give this a shot, we would love to see! Feel welcome to join our Facebook group and share your experience!

Dani D x

Disclosure: This Blog does contain affiliate links which I may earn a small commission from if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.