Egg Heads
Last Easter we decided to make some Egg Heads with the mustard & cress seeds we got in our lunchbox from Kew Gardens. Now I’m not in any way saying this was an innovative idea — most of you probably grew some of these little men/women yourself as children. But for some reason my childhood missed this particular activity… something I now plan to take up with my Mum and Dad as it is a reaallllllly cool thing to do!
I am not the slightest bit green-fingered and manage to kill all plants/greenery in my care (even cacti have a hard time living in our house and my husband doesn’t understand why I still buy herbs in pots as they always die within days), but mustard and cress are stubborn little plants and grow despite a lack of due care and attention. And they grow very quickly so you see results on a daily basis — appealing to my impatient nature.
So if you never made egg-creatures as a child then I urge you to take this eggcellent (terrible – I know!) holiday as an opportunity to redeem your deprived childhood just as I did. Your kids will love it too! Here’s how to make them:
-Crack an opening at the top of the egg and get rid of the contents (cake? omlette? – Mmmmm!).
-Now wash out and paint or decorate as you like — we just went for old faithful googly eyes.
-Now it gets a bit (a very little bit) tricky: Fill with as much cotton wool as you can (up to about ½ cm from the top), being careful not to break the shell. Then dribble water in to soak the cotton-wool. Then sprinkle your seeds on top. That’s it!
-Every couple of days or so you can dribble some more water in so they stay moist. And they go like the first picture after a couple of days but like this after a week or so!
p.s. These egg-cups are loved by me and hated by my husband. But I grew up with them and found it so special when I was allowed a boiled egg in them. My Mum gave them to me when I left home (making up for her lack of egg-head making I think). They are 1970’s Carltonware and you can still buy them on ebay.
5 COMMENTS - Add your own
We also make egg heads for Easter, I love those egg cups, they totally do the trick!!!!
I also had never heard of this cute project before… until Esther taught it to me a few years ago!
so cute, I love these !
You know what, I have never tried this… I think I will!
My Mum is adament I did actually make these as a chiid – she says we only made them once as I didn’t like the cress when I ate it (which is crazy – i love cress now!). So apologies Mumma!