How to Make an Egghead: The French Alternative

When the kids are bored and looking for something to do, why not show them how to make a living egghead! It's easy, it's lots of fun and you might just light a spark that will turn your children on to gardening for their whole lives.

You'll need:

• 2 eggs, soft-boiled or raw
• 2 egg cups
• cotton wool
• water
• watercress or mustard seeds
• scissors
• felt-tipped pens

1. Cut the tops off the eggs. Raw eggs work best for making eggheads, so either eat the eggs if they're soft-boiled, or tip out the contents to use later. Place the eggshells in the eggcups.

2. Draw faces on each eggshell - happy or sad or just plain silly. If you're going to put on a moustache make sure it's green!

3. Fill the inside with cotton wool. Sprinkle seeds thickly on top. Water carefully, so the seeds don't wash out of the eggshell. The water level should be about at the top of the egg, or just a little lower. Place the eggheads on a sunny windowsill.

4. Wait. Over the next few days the seeds will germinate and grow. Soon you'll have eggheads with long green hair.

5. Now you can play hairdresser and give your egghead a crewcut or a mohawk, and don't worry, the hair will grow again. Or you can eat it on a sandwich, although you might find the taste too peppery.

Further reading

For more fun gardening ideas for kids, see the article by Jackie French in the November 1999 edition of the Burke's Backyard Magazine.

Copyright CTC Productions 1999