Magic Potion Play for Kids: It is rare to find a kid that does not love making potions. Potion play is a fantastic activity that will entertain a busy toddler and an older kid alike for quite some time. Creating an invitation to play with fizzing potions is fairly simple and inexpensive and, at its basic level, it can be done with things you already have in the house. This activity can be made even more elaborated by buying a few items available on Amazon.com. In this blog post, you will see how to create a potion-themed invitation to play, you will learn basic potion recipes, and also where to find the best potion play kits in the market.
1. How to set up a potion-themed invitation to play?
To set-up an invitation to play you need a base station. Since potions may become messy (or a giant mess), it is a good idea to set-up this activity outside in a mud kitchen. If you don’t have a mud kitchen you can easily create a simple one with less than $50/100 using two or four ikea crates and Ikea storage boxes. Alternatively, you can set a splash mat or a big tray on the floor or kitchen sink or counter, or even muffin tins and ice trays. You then will need some a small or large bowl, or mason jars, and spoons to mix ingredients. If you want to make your potion station a bit fancier you can buy ladles and caldrons on Amazon.com.
2. Collect Nature Ingredients with Kids
Potion play normally keep kids engaged for a long time. To make potion play last longer you can engage your child into getting nature elements for the potions such as flowers, berries, small rocks, leaves, pinecones. Give the kids some bowls to collect each ingredient. You can even go for a walk to hunt for the magic ingredients. If you collect gravel rocks you can decide to paint using this process for an even more magical experience. Transform ordinary elements into extraordinary ingredients by assigning magical names like “rainbow petals”, “unicorn tears” ,”flower potion”, “fairy potion”, sparking their creativity and sense of wonder.
3. Ingredients from the Kitchen
Some of the ingredients for fizzy potions that you likely have at home are baking soda and vinegar, active dry yeast and maybe even food coloring. If you combine the food coloring with baking soda and then add vinegar, you created a chemical reaction that will make the potion magically fizz. Colorful potions creates and even better effect for kids, that why it is a good idea to include food coloring to create colored water. But this is optional, so the potion will fizz and bubble even without it. In addition, you will need a glass jar/bowl, or plastic bottle or bowls for the younger ones, spoons, and pitcher for mixing and pouring.
4. Extra Ingredients to Purchase (optional)
If you want to bring your potion game to the next level you will likely need to purchase a few different ingredients. The first one is citric acid that when combined with baking soda can make potions fizz even when using water only without the need of vinegar. Specifically, the reaction of baking soda+citric acid is activate just by adding water. One very cool ingredient for a shimmery potion effect is mica powder which is shimmery powder made of natural ingredient which convey the most beautifully lasting shimmer to the potion. You can then add essential oils, flower petals, salt crystals. and anything else that can foster imaginative play.
5. How to make an Invitation to Play for Magic Potions
Prepare the dry ingredients and put them in a bowl, then prepare the liquid ingredients and put them in a pitcher or bottle. Now prepare empty bowls or plastic or glass jars and some spoons for mixing. Ask your child to get some ingredients from nature and put them in the bowl. Give them the spell card and let your child follow the recipe. This is an activity for kids of all ages, however be careful that the child does not ingest any small parts or the final potion.
6. Three Best Potion Recipes
Use the magical ingredients indicated below to spark some simple play ideas and open-ended experimenting.
Recipe 1 – Classic Fizzy Potion
(Food Coloring is optional)
- Mix a few drops of food coloring with 1/4 cup of white vinegar (you can do this step if you don’t want the child handle food coloring)
- Place 1-2 tablespoon of baking soda on a clean bowl (mason jar works perfectly)
- Add nature elements for extra potion strength (optional)
- Slowly pour the vinegar in each cup and watch the bubbly potion come to life!
- Ask your child to recite the magic spell while mixing the fizzy potion (see free download)!
You can repeat this potion recipe using another food coloring! You can also add biodegradable glitter for extra-sparkle effect!
Recipe 2. Super Fizzy Potion (requires citric acid)
(Food Coloring is optional)
- Mix a few drops of food coloring with white 1/4 cup of water (you can do this step if you don’t want the child handle food coloring)
- Place 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 1/2 tablespoon of citric acid on a clean bowl (mason jar works perfectly)
- Add nature elements for extra potion strength (optional)
- Slowly pour the water in each cup and watch the super fizzy bubbly potion come to life
- Ask your child to recite the magic spell while mixing the fizzy potion (see free download)!
Since this potion uses water rather than vinegar, it is good for storing in your favorite potion bottle.
Recipe 3. Shimmering Bubbly Potion (requires mica powder)
(Food Coloring is optional)
- Mix a few drops of food coloring with 1/4 cup of white vinegar (you can do this step if you don’t want the child handle food coloring)
- Place 1 tablespoon of baking soda,1/8 teaspoon of mica powder on a clean bowl (mason jar works perfectly)
- Add nature elements for extra potion strength (optional)
- Slowly pour the water in each cup and watch the super fizzy bubbly potion come to life
- Ask your child to recite the magic spell while mixing the fizzy potion (see free download)!
Note, for the best sparkly effect use mica powder and food coloring with different colors. You can use green coloring and gold mica powder, or red food coloring and purple mica powder, lavander food coloring and light blue mica powder.
7. Favorite Magic Potion-Kit to Buy
It is great to make your own potions, but sometimes the convenience of getting something ready is just what we need. My favorite brand to buy potions is https://fireflyadventuresllc.com/. The potion kits and the ingredients are so cute, they include enough ingredients to make 10-20 potions and include a Spellbook. They have fairy, space, and Ice (Frozen) themes. They also have amazing glowstones that all kids seems to love.
8. Download Free Spell Cards
For kids that can read, potion making is made even more specials with spells that your child can recite while making the potion to activate the magic. Use this link to download three beautifully illustrated spell cards. Each spell card is for a different magical effect, one is a protection spell, while the other is a kindness card, and the last one is a strength spell card. It is also included an empty spell card so that the parent or child child can create their own potions.
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