Bringing the outdoors into my preschool class gets harder in the colder ( and around here wetter) months, but I think it’s important for children to explore things and sometimes the only way to get young children to focus on the small details is to make something really cool with it. That is where these discovery bottles come in. Stopping to really look at the needles on a Christmas tree might not appeal to a three-year-old but put it in a bottle with some water that they can hold without getting poked, flip, shake, and look at with a magnifying glass. These pine tree discovery bottles are so simple but children love them, and they are perfect for preschool science.
Gather your materials. You will need some water bottles; we love VOSS bottles because the opening is a little bigger ( even more so in the bigger bottles) and you can peel off all the text on the bottles. You will also need some sprigs of pine, berries ( mine are fake), and some small pinecones. You may want to use some epoxy to glue the lids on.
Pop the sprig of pine in the bottles.
Add the berries, pinecones, and water.
Secure the top with some epoxy. Let air out for 24-48 hours if you are using anything with fumes.
Such a simple addition to your preschool science area. I love how the water magnifies the needles and berries, which helps children examine them without getting poked or putting it all int their mouth.
Preschool Science Books
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Finding great preschool science books can be tricky but here are two books that would go well with this discovery bottle from my favorite series of non-fiction preschool science books:
Snow Is Falling by Franklin M. Branley
A Tree Is A Plant by Clyde Roberta Bulla
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