Name of Activity:. MAGIC POTION

Category:. Magical Mystery Time

Props: Measuring spoons, containers (like bowls or cups or "tupperware", mixing spoons or whisks.) (You may want to stir the potion with food items like celery, carrots, and cinnamon sticks.) Also, a variety of edible materials that dissolve in liquids such as sugar, chocolate, spices, ice, food coloring, and syrup.

Your Role: travel guide, model

Directions: Explain to your child that in this activity we are creating a magic potion that can do one of three things: make you happier, make you stronger, or make you have a better memory. As your child to pick that magic potion objective (ie. strength, happiness, or memory.) Then explain that it is your job together to look at all of the ingredients and select and sequence how the potion is made. Plan out what goes in, how much, and when. Then make the magic drink.

Goals for You: to complete an imagination task; focus on sequence of actions; develop a sense of a finished product

Goals for Children: : recall sequence of events; creating a sense of make believe

Possible Strategy:

What to say Let's look at all the ingredients. Since we decided that our magic potion will make us happy, let's select 5 ingredients that will make us happy. We've picked, milk sugar, chocolate syrup, vanilla, and an egg. Let's decide which ingredient we put in first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. It's important that you remember the order of the ingredients because we want to keep this a secret between the two of us. Let's mix the ingredients together one by one.

What to do

Possible Shaping:

What to say Try hard to remember the recipe. Now let's try it. Do you have to say any magic words or perform any magic ritual to get the potion to work? Let's share this magic potion and see how we feel afterwards. I feel pretty good. How do you feel?

What to do: Before you drink the magic drink, ask your child to tell you and always remember what the magic ingredients are.

Possible Ending:

What to say:

What to do:

Material on this site created by Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D. and Yakov M. Epstein, Ph.D. in conjunction with their forthcoming book titled Play for Success. All material on this site is copyrighted and may not be reproduced or cited without written permission of Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.. Dr. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Epstein is Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is also Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education of Rutgers University.

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