I used them with a probably around 65/35 corn syrup to water ratio. I wanted the foam letters to move, but not too fast. They are brightly colored green, yellow, red, and blue letters so I used no coloring in the mixture. It seemed to work out ok. I thought so, at least. It was a gift to my twin 3 y/o’s preschool teachers, along with another sensory oil/syrup mixture sensory bottle, to add to their “calming corner.” I think that with mostly corn syrup, in addition to slowing the movement, it should help the letters to hold up over time. We shall see…

Oh, how fun! I wish I knew. You’ll have to let me know if you try it!

It should work great for a two-year-old! Enjoy 🙂

Hi Renee! I love that idea! You absolutely can buy corn syrup in bulk. We have a giant container from Winco. I would also suggest using smaller bottles and try making one with half corn syrup and half water to see how it turns out. Sensory bottles can be made differently, and if I was making a bunch, I would certainly improvise myself :).

As long as you make sure to clean the letter beads (or use brand new ones), you can use them for a long time. Otherwise they could grow things if they are not clean, if you know what I mean!

I’ve had several discovery bottles around for years, including this one. You may want to change the actual bottles out after time because they will get bent from being dropped or have fingerprint oil that takes away the sheen that they had in the past. That’s easy to do too though.

I hope you enjoy making one :).