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Illuminated Discovery Bottles

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Science Center Ideas

While in a craft store recently, I came across submersible lights. Immediately my wheels began to turn and I began to think of the possibilities. I bought a pack of submersible lights and some water beads, and made these illuminated discovery bottles for our science center.

Illuminated Discovery Bottles

The materials I used were submersible lights, water beads, and large plastic test tubes. My set of Jumbo Test Tubes are from Lakeshore, but you could also use plastic drink bottles that have a wide mouth.

Submersible lights (from a craft store):

Submersible Lights

Water beads (also from a craft store):

Water Beads

Lights & Glitter

This discovery bottle has water and red glitter with the submersible lights. The lights sink to the bottom, but when shaken, the lights move around in the water with the glitter. The light illuminates the water and reflects off the glitter, making it sparkle as it swirls around.

Illuminated Discover Tubes

Disappearing Water Beads

In this discovery bottle, I put in some clear water beads. I first showed the children how small the beads are when they are dry. Then I placed them in a test tube with water, and left them alone to absorb the water and grow bigger.

Water beads: before & after

After the beads were full size, I added some water to one of the tubes until the water covered the beads. This makes the beads seem to disappear!

Disappearing Water Beads

The water beads can only be seen when you move the tube around or lay it on its side.

Disappearing water beads appear again

Lights & Water Beads

Then I placed the submersible lights in the two bottles. The water beads hold the lights in place, so this time they don’t sink to the bottom. Children can either observe the bottle when it is completely still or shake and move the bottle to watch the lights move around among the water beads. In the picture below, the blue test tube is the one that has only water beads with no extra water added. The yellow test tube is the one that had extra water added to it. This tube makes it appear that the lights are suspended in the water, when they are actually sitting on top of invisible water beads.

Illuminated Discovery Bottles

Here’s a challenge for you: In the comments below, tell your own ideas for making Illuminated Discovery Bottles. After you make them, come back and tell us how they turned out!

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About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

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Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

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