Harry Potter

Snack: Edible wands (vanilla frosting and pretzel rods)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/magic-wands/

Divination Class:

http://tikkido.com/node/521

·         Beforehand, place a drop of food coloring on the bottom of a clear plastic glass.  Let dry.

·         Fill a cup with some ice.  Place cup in child’s outstretched hands.

·         Have the child concentrate on her future, then, add the Sprite. (For an added touch, we poured the Sprite into their cups using teapots).  

o   Red=Your life is full of adventure

o   Orange=you are daring

o   Blue=you are going to be a famous quidditch player

o   Yellow=you are imaginative and will be a famous author

o   Green=you will have a peaceful, long life

o   Purple=you will be skilled in making potions

o   Pink=you will become excellent in the art of magic

o   Black=you will live a life of danger

Split kids into three.  1) Charms, 2) Flying, 3) Potions and have them rotate every 10 minutes.

Charms Class:

http://www.continuallycreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HPactivities6.gif

·       
      Levitation charm (Wingardium Leviosa)—use wands to keep balloons up in the air

Broom Flight Class: (Craft: Pencil Brooms)

http://lisajennbigelow.com/2010/11/harry-potterpalooza/

  

1. Wrap a piece of double-stick tape (about 2 inches long) around the metal portion of the eraser. 
2. Arrange raffia around the eraser (4-5 pieces) and press raffia into the tape with your fingers.
3. Wrap a second piece of double-stick tape directly above the first piece on the pencil.
4. Arrange 4-5 more pieces of raffia around tape.
5. Take one star garland and wrap it around the top of the raffia. 
6. Tuck the end underneath the garland.
7. Trim some of the top edges of raffia slightly to give the broom an uneven appearance.

Preparation: Cut 10 strips of raffia about 4 inches long with scissors. Cut star garland into 12 inch pieces.

Potions Class:

http://kikicreates.blogspot.com/2012/02/harry-potter-birthday-party.html

   

·         Wizard’s Magic Rainbow: Measure 1 Tbsp of each type of liquid.  Pour each liquid slowly into the container one at a time.  Make sure the liquids do not touch the sides.  Pour in the following order:

o   Honey (snake blood)

o   Karo syrup (dragon spit—red)

o   Dish soap (worm juice)

o   Water (frog bile—green)

o   Vegetable oil (hog snot)

We had the kids form a line. The first kid added the first ingredient and when he moved on to the second ingredient, the second kid in line started adding the first (and so on).  This allowed for up to 5 kids to be adding at one time and helped the line move more quickly.

When kids are done with all three, they can practice Defense against the Dark Arts, color, do puzzles, quiz, get photo taken.

Defense Against the Dark Arts

·         Reducto – This spell blasts an object out of the way.

o   Set up cardboard creatures such as acromantula and provide each child with a special wand. Create the wands in advance – cut wrapping paper or paper towel tubes into wand lengths. Attach pieces of black craft foam to the ends, but at the tip end of the wand, only attach it partially so that it can flap open. Put an object such as a small bean bag or ball from a dollar store inside each wand. Show the children how to start with their wand up and slightly behind them and fling them towards the acromantula, which will cause the ball inside the wand to shoot out.

We had pictures of three different creatures: a basilisk, red cap and doxy.  I found the images through Google images, printed them out on 11x17 paper in color, laminated them and attached each one to a large piece of cardboard.  I added another piece of cardboard to the back to act like a hinge, keeping the creature upright.

Color By Number Hogwarts Crest

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/hogwarts-crest-colour-by-number

Photo Op:

Which Hogwarts Character are you most like questionnaire

Evaluation:

Attendance: 19/21

This was a great program.  The snack and divination drinks were well received, although the black and pink food colors (Wilton gel coloring used for cakes) did not work as well as the others (regular liquid food coloring).  Those may have worked better if we had added the color the day of so they didn’t dry out.  The kids liked seeing what their future held.  Separating into groups also helped with the flow of the program.  For Potions, we found it was easier to squirt the potions ingredients directly into the baby food jars than it was to measure it out (less waste and faster).  We ended up adding an extra bottle of the first two ingredients as they took the longest to add and it allowed the line to move more quickly.  After all was added, the kids wrote their names with Sharpie on the top of their jar so they knew which one was theirs.

For Charms, Sandy added a wonderful element by making it into a game.  We used house banners for decoration.  The kids each chose a house.  When the game started they needed to keep their balloon in the air with the Wingardium Leviosa charm.  If their balloon touched the ground, they lost a point for their House.  At the end, the kids all joined together by their house banner and points lost were tallied.  The house with the fewest points lost won.  The kids loved this and were honest (for the most part) about how many times their balloons touched the ground.  It also helped them with their addition skills as they had to add together all their points.

Broomstick Flying class went quickly and the kids seemed to like their pencils.  They also tried their hand at some of the worksheets we had out, but many brought them home.  The wizard photos worked well as did Defense Against the Dark Arts, which we only did in the first session.  The kids lined up in three teams and took their turn trying to knock down the evil beasties.

Overall this was a fantastic and fun program and one we should definitely do every other year.  There are plenty of ideas available to make it different each time.