Sensory Bottles: The Seasons

 Of course you'd expect wine to be in a wine rack wouldn't you. All probably being a mother, gin. But no, in my wine rack there is no wine. When we were planning our kitchen many years ago before we had children or even thought about children a wine rack was of course a place for keeping wine. It looked very pretty on the bottom layer of cupboards, close to the ground, filled with different bottles. Those of a parental disposition will notice the problem in the previous sentence. Close to the ground. 

What idiot in their right mind would put a fragile, breakable potentially lethal object right t eye level for curious little hands to grasp? Well of course in the land before children I had no idea a child would think a wine bottle looked like an amusing toy. The wine stayed there very happily for about 6 or seven months even after my first child was born. She was playing happily at my feet while I was making some tea when i saw her reach for a bottle. "There's no way she'd be strong enough to pull a bottle out of the wine rack," I thought to myself. Of course she could. Babies have a superhuman strength which means they can lift twice their own body weight if they realise it's something they aren't supposed to be doing.

Sensory bottles

So now there is no wine in my wine rack. This is what's there instead. I try desperately hard to find activities for the girls to occupy them while I'm busy making dinner. These work for a few minutes before they go back to biting each other or making a grab for the hot pans. They are sensory bottles. These ones are themed around the seasons.

 To make them I used:

• 4 bottles
• pom poms
• glitter
• gems
• feathers

All you need to do is fill the bottle half way with water. Add whatever you want inside. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. Screw on tightly. Glue with superglue/gluegun

I did this with my daughter who was four on a day when we were doing a few other craft activities and this was by far her favourite. She liked choosing the different materials to match each season. 

So yes, my wine rack is now always full. And yes I can't wait for a time, a long time from now, when it will actually be full of wine.