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After the Storm Sensory Bottle


I am on a quest to make the perfect rainbow sensory bottle. The first one I made, End of the Rainbow sensory bottle, was very complicated. The second one, Easy Rainbow sensory bottle, was much easier, but had ribbon taped to the outside of the bottle (which felt like cheating to me). So, this After the Storm sensory bottle is my latest attempt, and I feel like I finally got it right!

My other two rainbow sensory bottles are more of a St. Patrick’s Day theme, with gold glitter falling down to the end of the rainbow. I wanted a different feel for this one. So, I came up with the idea of creating a glitter “storm”. As the glitter slowly settles to the bottom of the bottle, a sparkly rainbow appears.

The storm was the easy part. I used a few different colors of glitter and one of my favorite water/glue ratios. With the storm looking good, it was time to work on the rainbow.

I started off by lining up the ribbons on a table, overlapping them slightly so that the width of the rainbow was 2 inches. Then I cut a craft stick into two – 2 inch long pieces. I put a line of hot glue on each craft stick, then folded the ends of the ribbon over the craft stick to secure it. I flipped everything over and glued the other side of each craft stick to the ribbon as well. Then I trimmed the excess ribbon.

I tied a small piece of fishing line to the center of one stick (in between yellow and green), and hot glued the other end of the fishing line to the center of the lid. This is what holds the rainbow up inside the bottle.

Then came the moment of truth! Would this work? Would the ribbon crumple up in the liquid? Would the craft sticks try to float? Would the hot glue hold in the water? Would the pretty glitter on my ribbon come off in the bottle?

I carefully put the ribbon rainbow inside the bottle, closed the lid tightly, and shook it up. Everything worked just the way I had hoped! The glitter storm swirled around and fell to the bottom as the rainbow sparkled beautifully.

Setting up the ribbons in this bottle is not as easy as my Easy Rainbow sensory bottle – but since the ribbons are actually inside the bottle, it doesn’t feel like cheating! However, it is not nearly as difficult as my End of the Rainbow sensory bottle. I completed this bottle in one sitting, compared to several days of work on the End of the Rainbow sensory bottle. So, I count this as a success!


If you are interested in making an After the Storm sensory bottle, here is what I used:

The links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your consideration.


Thank you for checking out my After the Storm sensory bottle!

“I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

Genesis 9:13-15

~ Sarah ~

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9 thoughts on “After the Storm Sensory Bottle”

  1. Can you make me sensory bottles for my daycare/preschool?? I am definitely willing to pay for them.

  2. are you selling them!? Please let us know where we can buy one for you!? I really want (1)..keep us posted, please! I am willing to buy one from you!

    1. I’m so glad you like it! I am not familiar with colored tubing. 🤔 It’s fun to experiment with different materials. Let me know how it goes if you try it!

  3. Try laminating your ribbon (or a printed two sided picture of a rainbow) to the full width and length of the bottle…making sure there is a small space 1/8-1/4” of just sealed laminate (no ribbon) around the entire strip. Be sure to use a thicker laminate so your rainbow strip is stiff. You can add glitter to the laminated rainbow strip. If the laminate is thick enough it should support your rainbow with out the need to glue it. Place the strip into the bottle and fill with your storm mixture from both sides. (If it turns and that bothers you, you can fasten it to the cap with hot glue. Hope this saves you time!

  4. Liz, thank you soooo much! Your tip made this craft so much easier. Now I don’t have to use hot glue and kids. I actually did not even laminate it- I used book tape and taped the ribbons in between two pieces of tape. It worked just as well!

  5. Pingback: Spring Sensory Bottles - Tea in the Wild

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