Mr. or Mrs. Grasshair activity

[Pauline]

Growing seeds can be great fun and making a Mr. or Mrs. Grasshair will keep the children amused and should be starting to sprout by the time they go back to school.

What you need:

Old tights
some sawdust
a jam jar or suitable container
a small amount of grass seed
decoration for the face - old buttons for eyes or paper or material for the features.
glue

Pet shops have small packs of sawdust and most pet shops/seed or gardenware shops will let you have a small amount of grass seed.

You start by cutting the foot end off the tights (cut off around the calf area to make tying easier then trim later), put a small amount of grass seed in the end and then fill it with sawdust till it's about the size of a tennis ball - tie the end tight and trim if necessary. This tied end will be the base of the head which then sits in the jam jar which itself can be decorated

The grass will grow at the top of the head.

Eyes, ears, nose and mouth can be added and glued into place - take care not to wet the glue when watering later.

Dampen the grass seed and sawdust then fill the jam jar with water, the water will slowly soak up and keep the sawdust moist.

Gently water the top of the head each day too to stop the seed drying on top and soon you will have good head of hair which can be trimmed and styled to suit.

[sandra070475]

Thanks for that idea, I have got some spare cress seeds. I wonder if that will have the same outcome.

Will give it a try next week !!!!

[Pauline]

sandra070475 said:

Thanks for that idea, I have got some spare cress seeds. I wonder if that will have the same outcome.

Will give it a try next week !!!!

I don't see why not.

Have you ever tried growing cress in the shape of the child's initial? Draw their initial quite large on a piece of kitchen roll (little ones will need help as kitchen roll is a bit flimsy)

Put several layers of kitchen roll in a shallow tray with the initial one on top.

Then sprinkle the lines with the seed.

Keep moist and the seed will grown in their initial shape - let the children add their cress to a sandwich when the activity is finished!

This is good because the seed grows very quickly and they soon see results.

Brings out lots of discussion topics too - food and plant growing, food, letters, plant care etc.etc.

[babbs]

I've seen these type of things in the shops but never thought of making them at home. Better make sure I don't use my best tights! ;D

[theresa]

bumping up as i think this is a great rainy day activity, thanks Pauline


xx

[michellethegooner]

this is a great idea, i have always done the usual potato heads with cress this one will b a lot bigger so kids will have more fun...

cant wait to start ..

thanx michelle x

[janet]

thanx pauline xxxxxx