Let’s learn how to make a sensory bottle today! This glowing galaxy sensory bottle is not only a fun craft to make, but it is a great way get your younger kids to calm down before bed. A galaxy sensory bottle is an amazing way to get your child to focus and settle down. It is obviously perfect for toddlers, preschooler and kindergarten age kids, but older kids love to play with them too!

DIY sensory bottle - it glows in the dark- a bottle with blue liquid with sparkles and glow in the dark stars.
Help your child relax at night with this calming glowing sensory bottle.

How To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Bedtime is not the time for play, for toys, or for fifteen drinks. We needed something that would help calm our active and not-yet reading children as they drifted off. That is why we made this calming bottle craft! Bed time IS time for a bottle full of sparkles and glowing stars that will remind you of the milky way.

Related: Making Our Own Glow Stick  & How to Make a DIY Crash Pad for Sensory Play

What Is A Sensory Bottle?

A sensory bottle is a container that has a fluid and various materials inside. The items inside the bottle float and fall in the bottle and is a fun way for a child to experience the world in a different way. The sensations around a sensory bottle can be calming and help kids quiet their mind and body.

What Are The Benefits Of A Sensory Bottle?

A sensory bottle can stimulate the senses of your child and their cognitive system. A sensory bottle can calm while your child quietly explores the sight and touch sensations. Sensory bottles can help support different stages of child development and is a great way to calm a child and help ease their agitation and anxiety allowing them to relax.

Count the stars- DIY glowing galaxy sensory bottle- a bottle with blue liquid with sparkles and glow in the dark stars
Count the stars in this glowing galaxy sensory bottle.

Supplies Needed To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Instructions To Make A Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

Step 1

Squirt the glitter glue in the bottom of the bottle.

Step 2

Step 2- Add your blue hair gel to your bottle for you DIY glowing galaxy sensory bottle
Add paint, hair gel, and glitter glue to your sensory bottle.

Add a small amount of glow in the dark paint. Just a good squirt. 

The glitter glue will add some sparkle and the paint will add just a hint of glow to the whole bottle.

Step 3

Add in a bottle of hair gel almost to the top. The gel is great for resistance – so the stars don’t immediately fall to the bottom of the bottle, and the little air bubbles inside the gel simulate all the little stars in the galaxy.  

Step 4

Step 4- DIY glowing galaxy sensory bottle- Add your glow in the dark stars to the bottle
Add the glowing stars to your sensory bottle.

Add your glow in the dark stars to your bottle.

Tip: We added a couple of tablespoons of water as our gel was a little too thick.  I wanted the stars to fall, with a little resistance. My thick hair gel had the stars floating.

Step 5

Once you have the consistency you want…Super glue the lid onto the bottle. VERY important! You don’t want your child waking up in a soup of sticky hair-gel!

Finished. I love it!

Step by Step Pictures for DIY Sensory Bottle

DIY Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle Steps 1-3
Step by step guide to make this glowing galaxy sensory bottle.

How We Use The Sensory Bottle

It can be hard for kids to decompress or calm-down for bedtime. If your child says they are having problems going to sleep, hand them the bottle and ask them to count the stars. There are about 50 of the mini-stars in this bottle. My guess is that they won’t count them all.

If your child is too young, you can count with them or just let them shake the bottle and watch until all the stars fall and repeat.

Variations On The Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle

DIY Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle variation- With pink, lavender, purple, light blue, and blue hair gel and glow in the dark stars.
Change up your glowing galaxy sensory bottle by using colored hair gel and different water levels or add paint to clear hair gel.
  • We also did one where we used multiple color hair gels and layered them. Shaking it will obviously mix it up, but it’s also really neat at first.
  • You can add water to different levels. The different water amounts will leave some of the gel heavier than others.
  • Or you can add acrylic paint to clear hair gel.

Glowing Sensory Bottle for Bedtime

have your kids count the stars in the bottle as they go to sleep

This glowing galaxy sensory bottle is not only a fun craft to make, but it is a great way get your younger kids to calm down before bed.

Materials

  • Durable plastic bottle
  • Hair Gel – nearly full bottle.
  • Glitter Glue – a squirt.
  • Glow in the dark paint – a squirt.
  • Super Glue
  • Glow-in-the-dark mini stars

Instructions

  1. Add a squirt of glitter glue to the bottom of the bottle.
  2. Add a squirt of glow in the dark paint into the bottle.
  3. Squirt your hair gel into the bottle. We got almost the entire bottle in.
  4. Add your glow in the dark stars.
  5. Then super glue the bottle shut.
DIY Glowing Galaxy Sensory Bottle variation- With pink, lavender, purple, light blue, and blue hair gel and glow in the dark stars.
This calming sensory bottle is amazing fun to make and a great way to help your child get ready for bed.

More Sensory Activities From Kids Activities Blog

THE BIG BOOK OF KIDS ACTIVITIES

This toilet paper roll train craft is one of the featured kids crafts in our newest book, The Big Book of Kids Activities has 500 projects that are the bestest, funnest ever! Written for kids ages 3-12 it is the compilation of bestselling kids activities books perfect for parents, grandparents and babysitters looking for new ways to entertain kids. This toilet paper roll craft is one of over 30 classic crafts that use materials you have on hand that are featured in this book!

Cover of the Book, The Big Book of Kids Activities where this sensory bottle project is featured
This sensory bottle craft is one of several in our BIG BOOK of Kids Activities!

Oh! And grab The Big Book of Kids Activities printable play calendar for a year’s worth of playful fun.

How did your glowing galaxy sensory bottle turn out? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.



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7 Comments

  1. My kids and I just made these. We used the Elmer’ S Glow in the Dark Glitter Glue but it made it SO milky we can’t even see the stars. I would recommend just putting the air gel in straight (we did that with just the last bottle after the first 2 didnt work great) and it is clear so you can see the stars and gives it enough glow with just the stars.