Back to School "I Spy" Bottles

I spent this afternoon at the movies and am going to spend the day tomorrow at a nearby museum.  Teachers in my district return on Monday, so I am spending my last few days of summer with my husband and boys before we all go back to school.

 I had a busy summer.  I am getting my masters in reading and took three summer classes.  I also worked on a special project for my new "firsties" who will be joining me on Aug. 25.  I have seen many versions of the "I Spy" bottle on Pinterest.  I looked at many versions and decided to try something a little different...Back to School "I Spy" Bottles!

Step 1:  I drank a lot of ICE drinks!  The bottles are a little sturdier than regular water bottles and I like the smooth, elongated shape.  I used Goo Gone to get rid of the stickies.

Step 2:  I dyed rice.  In a gallon sized ziplock bag add one Tablespoon vinegar and food coloring (more drops for brighter colors) for each cup of rice.  Add rice and shake until rice is completely colored. Pour into a tray until dry, about one hour.  I dyed five cups of rice at a time. I ended up dying 10 cups each of red (which turned out pink), green, yellow, and blue.  This made 24 bottles.

Step 3: I used Detective Kids Clip Art from Creative Clips to create bottle tags.

Step 4:  To the bottle, I added the items explained on the bottle tag.  I hot glued the top to the bottle to avoid any messy spills.  Then tied the tags onto the bottles with ribbon.

I will have these on the desks for open house.  I hope my new students enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.  I'm just saying...