Jellyfish in a Bottle

I saw this idea on Pinterest from a blog in Thailand. I knew I wanted to make it with my kids.

You'll need an empty plastic bottle, preferably a smooth one. Mine is a Smartwater bottle. A clear plastic bag. In the Thai blog, she used a clear shopping bag but I don't have a single store near me that uses clear shopping bags. They're all white or yellow. However, the thinner produce bags are clear so I used one of those and hoped it would work.

Cut the produce bag so you get a clear square from one side without any printing.

Leaving you with a plain square of unprinted, clear plastic.

Pinch it up in the middle to make a balloon for the body of the jellyfish. Tie with string but not too tight because you're going to need to add some water later.

Cut the part below into thin strip tentacles. I think I gave mine far too many. Think about 40 to 50 very thin strips of varying lengths would be perfect. Cut all the excess off. Mine still looks a little ghostly.

Fill the body with water but only about half way. You also need a large air bubble in there to give it buoyancy. I now tie the strings again, this time tightly.

Push the jellyfish into the bottle. Fill with water and a few drops of blue food coloring. Screw tight.

He liked watching it with his eye pressed to the bottle. My glasses prevented the same enjoyment.

Float little jellyfish.

The kids found it interesting. The whole project needs some more tweaking: thinner tentacles, less tentacles or more tentacles, less water and more air, smaller body, a slightly thicker plastic, a way to re-inflate the pocket with ample air after filling with water, etc. The kids are already thinking of new ways to improve their pet jellyfish in a bottle and test the different results. I think Jellyfish experimentation may be the fall rainy day activity.