beach in a bottle - australia day craft

This year I decided we'd group our crafts and activities into themes and focus on one theme at a time. This was to help me with focus, as there are times I am standing around a little un-inspired with what we should do or make or learn about at home. So the first theme of the year for us is the ocean. I think this ties in so nicely with the fact that it's summer here in Australia, and that it is Australia Day this month! Perfect. 

So, we made a beach in a bottle :o}

 This is a very neat idea and when I saw it Deal-icious Mom I knew it would be super fun and easy to do for the kiddos to enjoy.

What you need:

A plastic bottle and its lid - mine is not a big one - you can really use any size, just make sure to have enough baby oil to fill about 1/3 of any bottle you use. 

some sand, and some shells too if you like

water

blue food colouring {and a touch of green if you have any}

clear baby oil

glue gun

How to make your beach in a bottle:

1. Place some sand in the bottle.

Noah decided to put a plastic fish in here too.

2. Mix a drop of blue and a maybe a little green too in a mixing jug with some water until you get your desired colour. Pour the water into the bottle, on top of the sand. Leave some room up the top for the baby oil.

3. Put the lid on and tip the bottle onto its side. If you feel that there is enough blue water there then pour the baby oil into the bottle leaving only a little space in the top. If you need more water in the bottle, pour more in and check the level again by tipping the bottle over before adding the baby oil in. Ours could have done with a little more water and a little less oil but really, it doesn't have to be perfect or exact the kids will have fun anyway! 

4. Once you've filled the bottle so it is very nearly at the top {you need to leave a teeny bit of air in there so the liquids will move around}, use the glue gun to run a line of hot glue all around the top of the bottle and screw the lid on tightly. This is so smart little kiddos don't open the bottle and spill blue water and baby oil everywhere {or drink it!}

Now shake it up! Fun fun! The oil and water mix it up and then they also quickly separate

At this point I wished I had made two because the kiddos are usually pretty good at sharing but they loved love loved this so much they were having trouble being patient and waiting their turn.

What are you doing for Australia Day?