Kid's "Potions" kit ingredient ideas? Safe but interesting stuff

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

For two and a half years now, I’ve been adding to my son’s Potions Kit (think Harry Potter). He loves this thing and plays with it all the time, especially with one of his neighborhood friends. It originally consisted of mostly different colors of glitter, salt, a few interesting-looking and unfamiliar spices, and (my personal favorite) an empty bottle labeled “Unicorn Breath”. Last Christmas I added watered-down food coloring, several samples from Demeter — a perfume company that carries scents like “Old Library” and “Dirt” — and a little tube of citric acid and one of baking soda. Those last two were big hits because they DO THINGS when you put them in a potion together.

Other things I’ve used:
[ul]
[li]shredded white iridescent mylar (Unicorn Hair) [/li][li]milkweed pod fluff (Phoenix Down)[/li][li]little iridescent plastic cabochons (Dragon Scales)[/li][li]cream of tartar (Base)[/li][/ul]

Today is my son’s 8th birthday and I’m still putting together the next refill. I have a batch of samples from I Hate Perfume (similar to Demeter) on the way. Can you think of anything else I can put in a little plastic bottle, put a parchment label on, and present as an ingredient for magic? Must be kid safe and shelf stable; bonus point if it’s a household item or cheaply/easily obtainable; two bonus points if it doesn’t have to be strained out before a superannuated potion is dispatched down the drain; super max bonus points if it actually does stuff; honorable mention if it can be labeled in such a way as to appeal to both appeal to eight-year-old boys AND somehow evoke a Harry Potteresqueness, but don’t bother suggesting Unicorn Farts because I am already all over that one. :smiley:

#2

Bottle of H2O labelled “Holy Water” for vanquishing vampires?

ETA: Or how about A clove (bulb) of garlic?

#3

Oooh, maybe not the whole/fresh version (shelf stability issues), but we have this newfangled powdered kind that would work great! Let’s see, that’s a base point for the suggestion, one bonus for household/easy to get, two bonus for don’t have to strain for the drain (Total: 4) and an honorable mention as it will appeal to the kid (stinky!) AND they have vampires in the Wizarding World. Bravo!

#4

BTW I should mention that I’ll be including some Liquid Smoke but haven’t decided what to label it yet.

#5

So not sure this works in a “potion kit” as you need a fair bit of it and it’s not super cheap, but you can make “snow” or “dirt” out of anything fatty (ie, chocolate) using Tapioca Maltodextrin. There’s some cool videos on YouTube about how it works - this one shows chocolate.

For what it’s worth, she claims that you need a food processor, but I see plenty of other videos where people just stir it up in a bowl.

#6

Magic Rocks? They still sell them.

#7

Hell, I’m taking the rest of the day off. :smiley:

#8

Oh! You mean Pop Rocks?

#9

I like that idea, though I can’t toss $18 on one ingredient—BUT you made me remember I still have some xanthan powder from a DIY cosmetics project I never finished, whichh should do something similar. So I’ll give half credit for this one—full credit if you can help me think up a good label! Wanna try?

#10

^ “Graveyard dirt.”

“Tapioca Maltodextrin” sounds like a spell you cast.

#11

Boil up some purple cabbage and strain the pinkish liquid. It’s a natural pH indicator: add baking soda, it turns bluer, add vinegar, it gets pinker.

You could label it Truth Telling Potion or sim, the reactants as Yes or No.

#12

This stuff.

#13

For the liquid smoke, just label it liquid smoke. To a kid that thinks of smoke as gaseous, that’ll seem magical enough.

And I was just about to suggest the cabbage pH indicator. It’ll also work with cream of tartar, lemon juice, and cola (acids) and with chalk (base). Plus, to various degrees, plenty of other substances.

#14

I was going to suggest labeling the liquid smoke “concentrated dragon breath”, although you’ve already given him unicorn breath.

And, BTW, this is one of the coolest things I’ve heard of.

(And second BTW, if you’re entrepreneurial, you could turn this into a business by packaging kits for others.)

#15

Crushed up denture cleaner tablets. It’s fun to watch them foam up when added to water. Could be labelled Mer-people detector.
ETA add a bit of blue glitter.

#16

Aha. This particular kid has already had a few off-brand, pretty disappointing crystal-growing kits, so I think I’ll pass on the Magic Rocks. They’re also more of a stand-alone than a combinable ingredient. But you did make me think of Pop Rocks, which will bring awesome explosive goodness to any water-based potion, which will be FANTASTIC, so honorable mention for you!

#17

:eek: This. Is. Perfect. Perfecter than perfect. Exactly the sort of I thing I dared to hope the Dope would help me find! One million [/dr.evil] points for you!

#18

Hmmn, fair enough. Maybe embellish it to “Liquid Smoke of Burning Witches” or some such.

Half credit for second mention with additional detail! Five hundred thousand points for you!

#19

White jelly beans. Hummingbird eggs. They have magical powers that make move faster.

#20

Oooh, I like that, actually because of the repeat—good to have a variety of a particularly potent item, right?

Thanks! Though I’m not much of a businessperson, as I spend way too much time over details for my own satisfaction.