How to Set Up Long Lasting Potion Play

creating childhood memories/ what they're learning/ why it's more than just "keeping them busy"

When I was a little kid, my sisters and our neighbors spent hours playing in the backyard. At the edge of our property, there was a woodsy patch where we'd sit for hours grinding up onion grass between two rocks and making a stinky paste out of it. We'd add water and sandy dirt to change up the consistency, pretending we were making paints in a lab for a company that would sell our goods.

It sounds kinda silly now, but then? On those humid, buggy New Jersey afternoons it was pure summer magic. A little gang of girls ages 4-10, clumped together in a heap, swatting at mosquitos, working towards a common goal. We each had a job assigned by the oldest girls and we all listened to them for fear of getting kicked out of this magical little circle of play. I can almost smell the onion grass now.

Magical Potions

There's something about mixing potions that brings kids together in the most beautiful way. As an adult, I attempted to recreate some of that childhood magic in my adult home’s backyard by creating a Tinkerspace for my kids and their friends to play and create freely. (You can read about it here.)

Over my years raising three kids, I spent hours looking through my kitchen window, into the tinkerspace below. During that time, I watched children who struggled to connect in other settings find their place around a potion. The quiet child became the careful measurer, pouring steadily and precisely adding just the right amount of pink water into the container. The boisterous one, taking charge of when and how the sand got added, and which container it should get transferred to. Another child, naming the potions and telling the stories. Everyone had a role, everyone’s contribution counted, and everyone belonged.

Why Potion Play Matters

When children gather around their carefully created concoctions, they're building skills that no worksheet or app could ever teach:

They learn to negotiate and speak up ("Can I use the blue water after you?" “I need the funnel, it’s my turn next.” “Don’t put the blue in that one, put it in that one! ) and collaborate ("Hold this while I pour"). They practice patience as they wait for their turn with the coveted eyedropper, and resilience when their carefully crafted potion doesn't turn out as planned or gets accidentally knocked over by an excited neighbor.

I loved watching them work through disappointment when the color mix created a muddy brown instead of the anticipated vibrant purple. "That's okay," they'd say after a moment of frustration, "this can be our mud monster spell instead!" That ability to reiterate and pivot? That's the magic.

How to Get Started

Setting up a potion station doesn't have to be complicated, and you probably have everything you need already:

• A few containers in different sizes (jam jars, plastic cups, old bottles, an old soap pump bottle)

• Some tools for pouring and mixing (spoons, droppers, whisks)

• Natural materials from your yard (sticks, leaves, flower petals, dirt)

• Colored water (just add food coloring!)

• A space where mess is okay (outside, or over an old dropcloth inside)

  

  Droppers / Liquid Water Color / Sensory Table / Water Dispenser / Plastic Beakers

Then step back and let the magic happen. The less you direct, the more room there is for kids to figure things out together. You'll be amazed at the social dynamics that emerge—the leading, the creative thinking, the careful observing.

Yes, kids are learning about color mixing and basic science concepts when they make potions. They're developing fine motor skills as they use droppers and measure ingredients. But for me, it’s about the moments of concentration and discovery.

It's in the way they:

• Immerse themselves in their world, using the materials to make sense of things they are wondering about

• Develop problem-solving skills when they need to find alternatives for missing ingredients

• Learn emotional regulation when a carefully crafted potion accidentally spills

• Experience the pride and joy of creating something all their own

I remember one specific afternoon when watched my daughter completely absorbed in her work, her little face a picture of concentration. "This is my rainbow medicine," she whispered to herself, carefully adding drops of color one by one. "I am adding sugar so it’s not disgusting for my dollies.”

At that moment, I saw her processing her own bout with Strep throat the week before. It had been an all-out battle to get her to take the thick pink antibiotic every day, twice a day. It was a nightmare for her (and for me). As she mixed her “medicine,” I brought over one of her dolls and set it next to her with a medicine dropper from our medicine cabinet. And then I stepped away. Her face lit up! She carefully gave her dolly the “medicine” over and over, pretending the doll was screaming and crying as she worked to comfort her and tell her how important it was to take her medicine. I watched from afar, and I knew that she had just made some peace with the medicine wars that happened the week before.

What They're Really Learning

In our rush to prepare kids for the future, we sometimes forget that simple play experiences are already building exactly what they'll need: the ability to work with others, communicate ideas, handle disappointment, and think creatively.

When you allow your kids to experiment with potions, you're not just keeping them busy. You're giving them space to develop the social and emotional skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

And who knows? Maybe twenty years from now, they'll catch a whiff of something that reminds them of those potions, and for just a moment, they'll be transported back to these golden days of childhood, when the biggest decision was which color to add next.

If this post resonated with you, I’d love it if you gave it a like, left a comment, or shared it with a friend who might need a little reminder that mess and magic can go hand in hand. Thanks for being part of The Workspace for Children community. Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription for just $5 per month to support this newsletter and receive exclusive content weekly.

Thank you for being here. Lizzie x.