Medusa heads from egg shells!

My pre-schooler has become fascinated by Greek myths since we started reading Greek myths for young children – see my post on books for Greece week. So I came up with several activities relating to the Greek myths for our ‘Greece week’. In order to make Medusa, I thought we could grow some watercress in an egg shell – an experiment I remember doing at school years back.

To do this, take an egg on which you have drawn Medusa’s face and carefully cut off the top bit – about ¼ would be ideal. Pour out the egg (and save for something!) and then wash out the shell. Put some cotton wool in the shell so it mostly fills the space, and then make the cotton wool damp. Throw on a generous helping of watercress seeds. Water daily, and after a few days, some watercress (or Medusa’s hair) should start to appear. The daily watering slightly affected Medusa’s appearance, but we decided this made her look scarier! This was a great exercise in patience for my son, but he was so excited to see Medusa’s hair growing each day!