Thursday, April 14, 2011

eggheads, revisited.


There are some 'traditions' the boys leave behind, growing out of without a single glance. And then they sometimes surprise me - why haven't we done X yet? The eggheads is one of those things. They made them each spring for years - with wheatgrass - and this year they asked why we were not making eggheads? I had no idea we needed to do that again. So we did!

This year we put a twist on it. They wanted to try something other than wheatgrass, and they liked the name of the "wrinkled crinkled cress".


We pulled the biggest eggshells out of our collection (we save them to crush for the garden). The boys painted them - we used red and blue metallic acrylic paints. They painted faces on them, and then drew over that with a metallic marker.


They spooned a little potting soil in there, added a sprinkling of seeds, and watered.


The first few days we kept the egg tray holding them inside a large baggie - just misting water inside to keep them moist. Once they started to sprout, we took them out and the boys put the tray in a sunny window.


They have been growing steadily. With so little soil and a sunny window they need watering and/or misting really regularly or they wilt (and we add a little kelp fertilizer in with the water every few days), but they grow and grow and look very cute. We'll see how big the cress gets, and if that is enough soil for it to do OK for a while. It will be fun if the 'hair' gets huge and wavy!


I can see why they didn't want to let this one go yet!

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10 comments:

  1. What a fun tradition!! I love the things they remember. So special...

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  2. My kids would love this! We'll do it! (As soon as I get off the computer, out of my jammies, have a shower, wait for the kids to tire of drawing their cartoons in their books, walk the dog, and go to the library.) Right—we'll do it VERY SOON!

    It really looks like fun—thanks so much for posting this :)

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  3. That's a tradition to keep!

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  4. Those are really adorable! You are such a fun mom.

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  5. An "eggcellent" tradition!!

    Couldn't resist - I'm full of Spring spirit :)

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  6. What a fantastic idea! I must try it with my little girl. Thank you for sharing!

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  7. Those eggs have great personality :)

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  8. Very cute tradition:)

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  9. Oh...this is fun. We've done it before but not in a while. Isaac will love it. Thanks. xo

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  10. What a fun idea! My girls would love this!

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