February 11, 2013
by Kylie Gardner
3 Comments
13 Ways to Play and Learn with Bottle Tops
Being a teacher and a mama I just can’t help but collect rubbish. I have little collections of recycling in the pantry, the entry, the children’s rooms. It’s free craft – I’d be mad not to! I’ve been collecting bottle tops for ages. I have a zip lock bag in the pantry where I throw them as soon as they’re washed and dried and when the bag gets full I add them to the large collection amongst our craft supplies. Recently the collection was bulging and Pebble was looking for some fun, so we took them outside for some play in the water tray and our old baby bath tub.
I didn’t give any instructions or directions for this play, I just stood back and watched her explore and play and do her own thing, chatting with her about it as she went. Pebble is a particular little girl, she likes to line things up and put things in order. The first thing she did was pick out all the white bottle tops and line the bottom of the water tray with them.
The bottle tops had different purposes as she played. At first they were objects to be arranged and counted. Then they became a snake. After a long time focussing on this careful arrangement she was ready to get stuck in with the water and coloured bottle tops. There was lots of active swishing, some singing, some floating and talk about boats.
This play gave lots of opportunities for sorting, counting, arranging, imagining, singing and experimenting - all with a few bottle tops and some water.
Bottle tops can be used for play and creating in SO many ways. Here are twelve more fun ideas for playing and learning with bottle tops and bottle caps. Have fun!
13 Ways to Play and Learn with Bottle Tops
Heart Sponge Painting – Boy Mama Teacher Mama
Making Lid Soup - Teach Preschool
Bottle Top Painting – Preschool Playbook
Sticky Window Art – A Little Learning for Two Bottle Top Stamps – A Little Learning for Two
Rainbow Rice and Bottle Tops – Learning 4 Kids The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sensory Tub – The Imagination Tree
Spelling with Bottle Tops – Crayon Freckles
The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Learn with Play at Home Bottle Cap Math – Boy Mama Teacher Mama
Bottle Cap Letters – Brick by Brick
Sorting Colours – Learning 4 Kids
Do you collect ‘rubbish’ for play? Have you played with bottle tops lately?
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