Making I spy bottles is fun, fun, fun! The kids have loved dying the rice, choosing their trinkets to go inside, and to stare at their bottles to find each object. I started by having each child hold a baggy with rice in it. I poured about 1T of white vinegar and a small squirt of food coloring to the rice. They would then squish the rice around until it was fully colored. Then we poured it out onto paper towels to dry. After it was completely dry, we mixed the colors together. *Note, I discovered the hard way: don’t mix the rice until it is fully dry otherwise it turns and ugly brown color.
At a later session, I had the kids choose trinkets to go inside their bottles. I used small water bottles with the wrapper removed. You can certainly go with a large bottle, but it will take more supplies and not fit so nicely in the coping skill box. I had sequins, beads, brads, rubber bands, paper clips, and googly eyes. You can really use anything that is small enough to fit in the bottle. I enjoy giving them choices. If you better at planning, you can make a list of items that they put in the bottle so that they will know what they are searching for.
After they filled their bottles I used superglue to attach the lid to the bottle. I have in the past had kids dump the contents at home, which the parents didn’t enjoy too much! Many of the kids have come back and talked about how they used their bottles to calm down when upset.