If you have a house of apprentice wizards, you might want to try setting up some magical experiments to keep them occupied – after all, surely Hogwarts must be closed due to the pandemic too?
Every Harry Potter fan would love to be enrolled at The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but you can give your mini-wizards a taste of Professor Slugworth’s potions class for yourself with these simple experiments!
Colour-Changing Flowers
You’ll need:
- water
- food colouring
- white carnations
- cups or vases
Add water to the cups or vases, and let the kids pick a different food colouring to each. Trim the carnation stems, and then add one to each colour of water. Now watch as the flowers ‘magically’ change colour!
(Note: It can take over an hour for the colour change to occur, and will show the best results if left overnight)
Magic Disappearing Potions
You’ll need:
- Water
- Food colouring
- Gloves
- Bleach
- Clear containers or cups
Let the kids add their choice of food colouring to the water, then you carefully add bleach until the colour disappears!
Blue food colouring, for example, contains chromophores that reflect blue light, allowing us to see the colour blue. Adding bleach to the solution breaks up the chemical bonds of the chromophores so that they no longer reflect any colour.
Invisible Ink
Make invisible ink with lemon juice and a little water, then use paintbrushes or cotton buds to write the secret message, and the ink will dry clear.
To reveal the letter, hold the paper over a heat source, a hairdryer would be ideal, and the message will reappear!
This works because of the carbon compounds in the lemon juice. The heat breaks down the compounds and releases the carbon. This then turns brown when the carbon comes in contact with oxygen in the air.
If you are looking for Harry Potter science for a kids party, then get in touch with James Boffin today!
