We love our bright colourful bottle tops here on learning4kids. There are tons of fun learning activities you can do with them, some of which we have already shared and others that are saved in the drafts folder.
I thought I would collate some of these activities that have already been shared and bring them together into one neat post.
If you haven’t started recycling those bottle tops yet….here are ten reasons to start!!
SENSORY PLAY – BOTTLE TOPS & BUBBLES
Watch the creativity and imagination unfold as kids play in the bath using water, bubbles and bottle tops. This is a super fun and simple unstructured sensory play activity for kids. Read more…..
SENSORY PLAY – BOTTLE TOPS & RAINBOW RICE
Another fun sensory play activity for kids but this time using bottle tops and rainbow rice (or plain rice). This is an open-ended activity providing an invitation to play and inspire creativity and the imagination in an unstructured way. Read more…..
PLAY DOUGH PLAY – BOTTLE TOPS & STRAWS
Bottle tops + straws + play dough = fun, learning and creativity!
Watch and see the interesting and creative creations the kids come up with by using these simple props. We have made pancake stakes, cream biscuits and made 3d constructions using these bottle tops. Read more…..
PAINT PLAY – BOTTLE TOP NUMBER STAMPS
Make you own Homemade Number Stamps using bottle tops and foam number shapes. This is a sure way to make learning your numbers FUN for kids and create endless number paintings. Read more……
CREATIVE PLAY – MINI CUPCAKES & BABY CHICKS
Bottle tops are also great for making crafty creations. You can make Mini Cupcakes and little chicks or ducklings to use for imaginative play or sing-a-long to nursery rhymes such as 5 Little Ducks or 10 Currant Buns (Cupcakes). Read more…..
LEARNING PLAY – BOTTLE TOPS & SORTING COLOURS
Bottle tops are bright and colourful and come in a range of colours (& shapes) which makes them great for learning colours. This activity involves sorting the coloured bottle tops into groups according colour using the paper plates as a guide. Read more…..
IMAGINATIVE PLAY – BOTTLE TOP BREAKFAST CEREAL & FOOD
Bottle Tops have brought so many wonderful and creative ideas to my kids play times. They are a wonderful prop to promote imaginative play. Using the bottle tops for pretend food and a breakfast cereal are just two of many things kids can create with them. Read more…..
PRINTABLE – BOTTLE TOP MONEY
Playing with pretend money is a great way to introduce and learn about concepts relating to money and value. Make your own pretend toy money using bottle tops and printing off the free printable available. Read more….
NUMERACY PLAY – MEASURMENT & NUMBER WITH BOTTLE TOPS
Bottle tops can be used as a concrete problem solving tool when learning basic number sentences. They are a wonderful size to grip and move around. The bottle tops can also be used as a fun tool to measure with. Have your child measure how long their foot is and compare it to the length of a toy.
LITERACY PLAY – STAND UP ALPHABET
The Toilet Roll Alphabet is one of my favourite activities here on learning4kids! Once you have made your own set, you can use them for a range of literacy activities. The bottle tops fit perfectly to the ends of the toilet rolls, helping to make them stand upright. To assist you with making your own set, there is a free printable to download and print. Read more….
ALPHABET MATCH
Alphabet match is a fun hands-on activity for kids to help recognise and learn their alphabet letters. It is also a great opportunity to introduce upper case and lower case letters and match them in a fun puzzle like activity. Read more…..
For more bottle top activities <CLICK HERE>
Thanks Kristin! I hope that some of them can be useful for your preschool! Thank you so much for your comment! xx
I love this post because the most recent “toy” my kiddies have begun fighting over are our collection of bottle caps. Funny little people…but now we know what to do with all of them! Thanks for the great ideas!
Hi Sarah, thank you for your comment and you are very welcome! I think I am a little bottle top crazy, we are always playing and using them in our playtimes. Have fun with it! 🙂
Thanks for sharing these great ideas for lids! We have a special container that we save all of our lids in and enjoy them too. We’ve found some more ways to use those Squeezable Pouch Lids too, thought your readers might enjoy. http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/04/8-activities-for-kids-with-lids.html
Its my pleasure Kim…..and thank you for the link, I love to discover new ways to play with lids!
oh wow this is great Janice, I save all our bottle tops and now you have given me more ideas. yay
Hi! I just found out your web site. I’m completly in love with it! Your ideas are good, there are great pictures, WONDERFUL! After reading this post, I began to keep all my bottle tops! My only question is : Where did you take the foam letters and numbers? Thank you, Stéphanie
Hi Stephanie, thank you so much for your lovely comment! It always makes my day to hear from our readers! There is something about bottles tops that we are a little addicted to, lol, I think it is that they are so simple, cost nothing but can be used for so many things. I purchased our foam letters and numbers from KMart, many years ago in a large tub and they seem to have kept us going for some time. I have also seen them in smaller craft shops and other larger stores. I hope you are able to find some….good luck!
Thank you!
Where did you get your bottle caps. They are a great size and awesome colors but we don’t have anything around our house like that. I tried to look to buy them in bulk but couldn’t find them. What types of products did they come from?
Love all the ideas and can’t wait to make them!
Thanks again
Hi Tracy, I wish I could buy these bottle caps too….unfortunately they don’t 🙂 I have recycled them from our 2Litre milk and juice bottles, slowly I have collected enough for these activities. I have some here that I have put aside (among other things) for a giveaway as learning4kids will be celebrating 1 year of blogging soon. Keep an eye out for the giveaway and good luck with the bottle caps! x
Wow!
What a great idea for children to play in a variety ways rather than in only a single manner.
Thank you -:)
Bottle caps make great little sailboats. I use a ball of clay or styrofoam to position a toothpick “hull” and paper “mast”.
Love your ideas Sheryl, we will have to try this one too. 🙂
We used magnets to separate metal from plastic tops for recycling unit during Earth week.
I have been saving frozen juice lids forever thinking I might use them for something crafty or educational. Any ideas?
cute ideas, I use them in my classroom also. I get the sticker dots and put numbers and letters on them and use them in math and word stations. they can use the number caps for adding, subtraction, and etc. the letter caps I have them make words with them.
Thanks so much for these ideas. I have a nail barrel full of can in many different sizes. This has given me so new ideas to use in my childcare classroom.
Fantastic! Very useful authentic materials for organizing different classroom activities. We use tea cards with colorful pictures to learn colors, number, fruit and letters. It’s nice idea!Thank you!
Far out! I had no idea the humble bottle top could be used for so many creative activities!! My kids are ‘collectors’ and have a stack of these but I had only thought of them as collage materials until I saw this! Truly rapt I stumbled across your page. I’m learning so much!!
We added metal tops and tried to sort them with our big magnets. This was great around Earth day and recycling unit.
We have also sorted them by color and size.
Hi. I LOVE this site! I work with 1 yr. old children.
I’ve been collecting the plastic rings from the top of milk gallons for years. I probably have a thousand or more in many colors.
I’ve used them in the sensory table, hiding objects, floating them in water, and trying to create a hook with pipe cleaners (although too flimsy a hook) for them to “fish” the rings out.
ANY ideas for what I could do with these rings (suitable for 1 yr. olds)?
My 1 year old drinks pediasure and for a while I was throwing away the lids. I kept some of them to put in a coffee can to teach her shapes. Im going to save more to teach her colors, numbers and letters now that I seen your page. Thanks for giving me great ideas.
This activity is so great on so many levels from colors to categorizing to sensory and recycling. I think I’ll share some ideas on pinterest and also in our parent pages newsletter. Thank you., Edna
LOVE this post! We are mad collectors of all recycled bits and bobs and have loads of bottle tops which we often play with so many different activities! Aren’t they the best ?! I’ll be pinning and posting up on kids’ play space Facebook pg now:-) brilliant 🙂
Wonderful ideas, Janice!
Keep up the good work. And I like it.
Wow! Now I have a whole new mission in life…..save BOTTLE TOPS!
I want to ask my preschool families to save some for me.
Tops to milk bottles come to mind.
What other types of bottles shall I suggest so that we get the colors.
Love this idea! I have the bottle caps now I just need the toilet paper rolls!
Wonderful!!!!!!!
Wonderful !!!!!!!
I liked your work.
The kind that “flip” (not straight sides) also make great ladybugs or other bugs when you use sharpies to make eyes and dots on them! The kids can “flip” them (like the jumping frogs). :o)
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love these activities , great ideas , thanks