Early this morning, before it got too hot outside to play, the girls and I put on some play clothes and set up a little “potion lab” in the backyard for some messy pretend play FUN!!
They seriously loved this!!!
We reused the same clear plastic bottles from our driveway painting and filled them with water and a little food coloring. A few funnels (from the dollar store), eye droppers (recycled from empty bottles of infant vitamins/medicine — I save those!), and measuring cups (dollar store) made it even more fun! The girls mixed, poured, and conducted “experiments” all morning long!
I love how Emily insisted on wearing eye protection — “It’s what REAL scientists wear, Mommy!”
Of course!
They soon became totally immersed in this colorful pretend potion lab world!! Behold — the mesmerizing power of WATER!
Easy, simple, and very frugal!
Have fun!!
I added this post to:
Link & Learn @ No Time for Flash Cards
Smart Summer Challenge @ Naturally Educational
This looks like lots of fun!
Dear Valerie,
I’ll have you know, Emily’s “Eat more meat!” shirt is definitely not play-clothes. 😉
Love,
Mark
This looks fun. We did somethind similar last year, but made fairy potions & added organic materials from around the yard.
That’s a great idea!! 🙂
Love this! We did something like this a few weeks ago and also used baking soda, cabbage juice, and some vinegar. I love how excited kids are to learn about mixing things up 🙂
Great fun!! We’ll have to try that next time!
So cute! My kids have fun forever sitting in the baby pool with a couple inches of water and just dump and pour with their measuring cups and pitchers, etc. Adding some food coloring is such a simple idea but so much fun!
Looks like fun! I love Emily’s shirt!
I cannot get over how much fun this looks like! The colors are wonderful!
Add a little white vinegar and some baking soda next time and they will be quite surprised and thrilled.
Yes!! Totally going to give that a go next time around — I know they will LOVE it!!
I love all the colours. Glad they were wearing their protective gear 😉
Pinning this one, Valerie. 🙂 Such a fun idea!
Thanks so much, Vanessa!
Hello. My son would love this. Thank you!
I see you use food coloring often in your crafts. I used to work with little ones and found that it stains pretty bad so we would use…
Colorations® Liquid Watercolor Paint by Discount School Supply. We used it for all our crafts and even for the water table. Let me know what you think.
http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=16821
Oooo… I’ll have to give those a try sometime. We usually use food coloring because we have it on-hand, but I’m sure we would use liquid water colors for lots of other fun art too! Thanks, Mena!
Looks great! The goggles really make it – though lab coats, and gloves would have been a nice touch, too 🙂
YESSS!!!!
I need that shirt.
This would be so much fun!
Boil, boil, toil and trouble… :0)
What a fun, simple idea! Can’t wait to try this out! (I’m a bit of a recycling hoarder… so many great bottles and canisters to just throw them out)
What a beautiful and colorful idea. Need to do it one of these days when we have time…
I have plans for a lot of projects using repurposed bottles but really struggle removing the labels. How do you do it?
Just give them a good soak in very hot & soapy water — works every time!
Another way to remove labels is use the heat of the blow dryer. Start with an edge and carefully and slowly peel while pointing the dyer at that edge. The heat releases the label. Love this blog.
Soo much fun! Have you ever tried a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch with a little bit of water? It’s best to do it in a dish tub or a tray with a rim. Is it solid? Is it liquid. We have lots of fun with that.
Oh, we NEED to try that!!!
Imagine if you slipped in a little baking soda and vinegar without them knowing it. heehee… magic!
They would go nuts!! 😀
I am doing this tomorrow! 🙂
totally our style! we love science..and we love color..and we love messes! perfect!
This is great! Need to set up some cool bottles and colored water for my daughter! Great frugal fun!
You’re brilliant…I’ll just keep saying it again and again!
Just popping by to say my two girls (8 and 5 yrs) are doing this activity RIGHT NOW and they are completely absorbed by it. They sprinted outside when they saw it all set up…thanks for another fabulous frugal idea 🙂
Follow up – they were at it for an hour and a half! 10/10 for this activity!
Yes, that is AWESOME!!! 😀
All of us compulsive recyclables savers feel so much better when we visit your blog and realize “That’s why I save this stuff!!” This is such a great idea!
And every time I visit I remember, Oh yeah, this is that blog where the husband leaves funny and sweet comments for his wife and kids! So cute! 🙂
Hahahaha!!! 😀
So fun!! Thanks for linking up on the Smart Summer Challenge Val — our girls would have some SERIOUS fun together if we lived nearby!! : )
fondly,
pink and green mama
MaryLea
You’re welcome! Such great ideas listed there & I totally agree — if we lived nearby, it would be non-stop fun!!! 🙂
I LOVE this and am off to set this up for my kids right now!!!! Thank you!
A friend just posted this on Pinterest. I love when I come across your stuff there (I get to say I “know” her!). Anyway, this looks like so much fun. We’ll definitely have to try it as even big kids would enjoy this.
Luv it! Pinning 🙂