Mandrake Seedlings
Supplies
Mandrake Seedlings - How-to [HERE]
Mini terracotta pots
Bowl
Spatula
Soil / potting mix- we used coir from HERE, as we had it on-hand for our seed-starts.
Plastic snack bags (optional)
Craft
This was a super simple and quick craft, but the kids loved it.
Each student received a mini pot and Mandrake seedling.
We had a bowl of the coir with a spatula ready for the students to spoon it into their pots - and they made sure to cover their Mandrake head with soil; they don't want to hear it scream when it gets bigger!
We had a permanent marker available for the girls to write their names on their pots, or draw a little design on them. As the pots were so small, there wasn't much surface to decorate. In retrospect, a larger pot may have been more fun to add a pot decorating aspect to the craft.
We had plastic baggies handy for the students to transport their finished pots home without a mess of soil in their parent's cars. It wasn't a necessary supply... but definitely an appreciated one!
A random side note: We have a couple of plastic bowls that we designate for crafts only - we make slime, pour glitter, mix science experiments, and now also put planting soil in them. While we wash them out thoroughly after each use, I still prefer not to use them for food. It is worth mentioning this, as my brother laughed at my note on the bowl that reads, "For Crafts / Not for Food" written into the side of it. We did NOT think the kids were going to try to eat soil... it was just to remember that the BOWL was not for food use. 😋
Cornish Pixie Jars
Supplies
Mason Jars
LED tea lights
Pixie image, printed
Mod Podge
Glitter
Craft paintbrushes
Laminating sheets (optional)
Bowl
Prep Work
Images of the Cornish Pixies can be found on Pinterest easily - you can decide if you want a silhouette or a detailed image.
Print multiple images per page (I fit 9 to a page) and cut them out. For this step, I took a silhouette image of a pixie and used the Silhouette machine to cut it out for me on a heavier weight blue cardstock (Bazzill Paper).
The most common way to put the pixies in the jar is to print the pixies on a standard weight paper and Mod Podge the image on the inside wall of the jar. However, this method can get quite messy; the paper can get crumply and can rip easily when it gets too saturated in the paste, and it can be more difficult to position the way you want it.
I took a different route - I laminated the pixies and then cut the laminated pixies into blocks. You can see the outline of the lamination sheets below. This allowed the girls to just slip the pixie into the jar, and the outline of the lamination sheet kept the pixie from flipping around or falling out. The laminating sheet is clear, so you can't tell it is there at the end of the project.
Craft
Each student received a pixie, jar, and LED tea light.
They slipped the pixie into the jar and then took a craft brush and lightly coated the outside of the jar in Mod Podge.
After the jar was coated in paste, they lightly coated the outside of the jar in glitter. This was an opalescent white/clear glitter, which gave the jar a more shimmery frosted look once the paste dried. For a cleaner work-surface, we had the students hold their jar over a bowl as they poured on the glitter. They could take the excess glitter in the bowl and 'spot add' glitter as needed. But keep in mind, that it *is* glitter, so it is going to get on everything, regardless.
Once the jars were covered in glitter, they put the LED tea light into the jar and set it down to dry.
We had the students write their names on the bottom of their jars, so they would find their correct jar to take home at the end of the party.
This is the end of the 'class' portion of the party!
These classes took around 15-20 minutes in total, from the instruction on how to do the crafts to completion. During this time, I set up the Great Hall with the initial clues and 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened" writing on the wall for the main game.... to be continued!
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