Create some fizzy, bubbling concoctions in this amazingly fun Harry Potter potions class science activity! Fantastic as a party game activity as part of a Harry Potter themed birthday party or as a science based investigation at school or home. The kids all loved this!

For my eldest’s 8th birthday party she wanted a Harry Potter theme as she is feverishly reading through all the books and loving the stories so much! We had lots of themed games and activities at the party, with the absolute favourite being this Harry Potter potions class with Professor Snape!

For this Harry Potter Potions Class Science Activity you will need:

bottles/ jars/ vases in various sizes and shapes (the more scientific looking the better!)

pipettes

plastic cauldrons (or large mixing bowls)

vinegar

bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in the USA)

washing up liquid (dish soap in USA)

glitter

petals/ grass/ chopped herbs

spoons or sticks for stirring

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I found some amazing glass jars and bottles at my parent’s house which had originally had alcohol and various foods in them. These, combined with some small vases and oddly shaped jars I’d been collecting, led to a great array of potion making containers!

For the first part of the party I simply filled each one with brightly coloured water and glitter and set them out on display where they looked quite magical! Into a few I put sparkly paper or shredded iridescent thread too, which looked a lot of fun. I downloaded and printed these free labels from Over the Moon website here which made the bottles look fantastic!

When it was time in the party to attend Snape’s Potions Class, the kids came and stood around a large table and took turns to mix concoctions in cauldrons, using their magic wands to make the spells.

I wrote out a recipe instruction sheet for Laughter Potion, which said:

Mix 1 spoon Wartcap Powder with 1 spoon dragon’s blood. Add some drops of Veritas Serum and mix well to see what happens!

Wartcap Powder = bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Dragon’s blood = washing up liquid (dish soap) I chose a strawberry version to make it red. You could use any colour and change the name of the ingredient eg green for Troll Bogies!

Veritas Serum = white vinegar

They ended up adding a lot more than the suggested amount and enjoyed experimenting with how much froth and bubbly mixture they could make!

They were having so much fun that we popped into the garden and gathered extra supplies to offer to the mix.  We set out bowls of chopped grass and herbs, flower petals and lavender, as well as a few jars of coloured glitter too.

When all mixed together the concoctions became wonderfully creative and fun to look at! Miss 4 was proud as punch of her flowery, sparkly laughter potion!

We used up a huge amount of ingredients as each child wanted to try it over and over again! Next time I will get enough for everyone to be mixing at the same time without any waiting for a turn, and give them small vials with a cork so that they can take some of their own potion home with them too!

We did hand out empty Voss water bottles into which they added water, glitter, lavender and herbs to make discovery bottles as well. Those looked lovely as the glitter swirled around the liquid and smelt great too!

It was quite a mess but mostly all contained to the table top, so not too bad to clear up. As a bonus, all the ingredients made everything clean!

Miss 6 is keen for a Harry Potter party now too, so I imagine we will be doing this all again very soon 🙂 Yay!

Soon as I can I will also write up the other Harry Potter themed party games (each one involved going somewhere within the story to do something!) and also the food, decorations and goodie bags.

Until then, here are loads of games, food and activity ideas for all our other themed birthday parties for kids here: KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS!

You may also like to see our Harry Potter Sensory Writing Tray for practising phonemes and sight words!

Enjoy!

[ I’ve added some amazon affiliate links to this post to help you find the things we used. Thanks for your support!]