Grow Hair on an Eggshell
Half an eggshell, a face drawn on, cotton wool and cress seeds. In a week it has green hair you can eat.
Fill half an eggshell with damp cotton wool and cress seeds, draw a face on it, and watch green "hair" grow in about a week. Suits ages 3 to 8.
The short version
- Damp cotton wool, not soaking.
- Windowsill with real light, or nothing much happens.
- Check it every morning. That is the activity.
- Age
- Ages 3–8
- Prep
- 10 min
- Play time
- 20 min
- Mess
- Low
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Where
- Indoor
Why kids love this
It is a face that grows hair. Children check it every single morning, and the daily checking is more of the activity than the making. Cutting the hair afterwards, and eating it in a sandwich, is the part they tell people about.
What you'll need
- Empty eggshells, halved, rinsed and dried
- An egg box to stand them in
- Cotton wool
- Cress seeds
- Felt tips
- A small jug of water
Before you start
Save the shells next time you use eggs. Crack them carefully near the top so you keep a deep cup, rinse them out and let them dry. Stand them in an egg box so they cannot roll.
How to do it
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Rinse and dry the eggshell halves.
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Draw a face on the front of each one with felt tips. Keep it simple.
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Push a ball of cotton wool into each shell.
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Dampen the cotton wool with a spoonful of water. Damp, not swimming.
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Sprinkle cress seeds thickly on top.
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Stand them on a windowsill where they get light.
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Check every morning and add a little water if the cotton wool feels dry.
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After about a week, cut the hair with scissors and eat it in a sandwich.
Make it easier
You do the shells and the water, they draw the face and sprinkle the seeds. The sprinkling is the fun part anyway.
Make it harder
Run the light experiment properly: two shells, one in the dark, measured and recorded each day.
Other ways to play it
- Give each one a name and see whose grows fastest.
- Put one in a dark cupboard and one on the windowsill and compare after a week.
- Use a yoghurt pot instead of a shell if you have no eggs.
- Draw a different expression on each.
- Give them haircuts repeatedly — cress grows back a few times.
How it changes by age
- Three: drawing the face and sprinkling seeds.
- Four to five: the whole thing with help watering.
- Six and up: the light experiment, with measurements written down.
What they're learning
What a seed needs in order to grow — water, light, something to sit in — learned by doing rather than being told. Checking daily and adding water is a small piece of real responsibility, which children take seriously when the plant is theirs.
Clearing up
When it has finished, the whole thing — shell, cotton wool and all — goes on the compost.