Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 5

The Dark Forest may have been forbidden, but here at Hogwarts MiniCamp, we're pretty big on exploring the backyard and beyond. This sometimes means taking a Mini-beasts and Where to Find Them Scavenger Hunt, or learning about the local flora and fauna or even breaking open Sorcerer's Stones (geodes). If it's been a busy couple of weeks at our house, it's been even busier in the backyard!

 The young wizards (even the youngest) loved using magnifying glasses, bugnoculars and their own keen eyes to find as many bugs, worms and other mini-beasts around the yard. S was really hoping to be able to catch one for closer observation and eventually decided to leave his bug catcher open on the ground--just in case!

After S created his treasure map of where to find the Sorcerer's Stone, I decided it was the perfect time to take out a geode kit we had stashed away for at least a year waiting for that perfect time...

Armed with safety goggles, hammers, and brute strength, the boys helped crack open our "sorcerer's stones" and it was so exciting to see the crystals inside! These will be back again later on when the young wizards take on the backyard challenge of finding them in a Sorcerer's Stone Treasure Hunt!

 Harry Potter books are filled with mythical creatures but also real ones. Headwig the Owl would love to see how much the young students here at Hogwarts MiniCamp have been learning about owls! We've also made a lot of use out of Little Spark Company's Owls of the World Bundle. Both of the boys are really into lacing cards and we've been sneaking in some really fun math activities suitable for S and Y at their own levels using materials we have at home along with the ones provided in the set. We've even taken them outside for some play picnics in the backyard.

There's more fun (and learning), magic and play on the way. Stay tuned for the next post from Hogwarts MiniCamp and until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini-Theme: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 4

We've been busy wizards and witches here at Hogwarts MiniCamp and it's been a lot of fun! But it's not all Polyjuice Potions and Quidditch practice here! The students have been working on the arts and writing as well in some magical and creative ways...










Maurader's Map: If there's one thing that captures the interest and imagination of a little wizard in training, it's a map! Even better if it's a very long and fancy looking one like Maurader's Map. I may or may not have stayed up way too late one night last week printing, constructing and folding my own replica of Maurader's Map, and thanks to YouTube, you can, too! You can also just set out some fun prints of clip art, paper, glue and tape and maybe some nice calligraphy pens and markers for your younger map makers to use and create their own replicas of Maurader's Map. S took some wonderful creative license and made his own treasure map for a backyard scavenger hunt to find The Sorcerer's Stone (stay tuned for more on that...)


School's out for summer! No more pencils, no more books...but as for quills and ink and some clever ways to sneak in writing practice? Hogwarts MiniCamp has you covered!

All 3 of the young wizards here loved this one! We just used some craft feathers, black tempera paints and our Hogwarts journals.

What is growing inside this egg? A dragon, of course!
And for a fun and playful little craft activity, we made our own little pet dragons like Norbert in the first book! We used toilet paper tubes, yarn, cut up paper straws and pony bead stoppers for the legs and strings and uncut paper straws for the handle. The boys used tape and stickers for decorating and we also added in some orange tissue paper flames. Unlike the book, however, we kept our pet dragons and trained them at Dragon Obedience School. Norbert, Suzie and Ofal were very busy in their lessons last week and it was great fun and amusement for all. This project was pretty heavy in adult support and assembly but well worth it for the amount of fun we all had playing with our pet dragons afterward. Older children can definitely do more independently and even help out with younger ones.

Speaking of fantastic beasts, we also had a lot of fun at our Fantastic Beasts and Where to Make Them station at the beginning of the week. I set out our recycling bin full of "treasures for the taking," some pipe cleaners, stickers, colored tape, scissors and glue and 3 young wizards ready to play and create. C had a lot of fun emptying the recycling bin and playing with everything! Y and S both had a lot of fun constructing their own fantastic beasts. S used pipe cleaners to construct a friend for Pickett. Y loved using tape and pipe cleaners together for his critters.

And for some lovely more process-based art with a very short supply list...you can make your own Wizard Wands! We took a wand walk in a nearby wooded area. The perfect wand must choose its wizard and the boys each found a "wand" (stick) they felt most drawn to. They also selected one for C. When we got home, they used a sanding block to smooth any rough parts and acrylic paints to decorate their wands. If you want to use these outdoors, I'd recommend a layer of varnish or spray adhesive.

It's fun to make a piece of art; it's even more fun to use a piece of art. Our wands have been very busy here at Hogwarts MiniCamp and so have we! Come back next time to see what else these wizards are working on. Until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 3

I think it's pretty safe to say that we are ALL (adults included) having a great time at Hogwarts MiniCamp! We've entered into our second week here and the young wizards have been very busy. (So has Professor McGonagall, aka: your's truly, who sometimes must also take on the dual role of House Elf and tend to tasks in the home, kitchen and across campus.) We've had a lot of imaginative play and free exploration and some more organized "lessons" as well. Potions Class has been a favorite here by far. Here's a peek at some of our latest concoctions:

Bubble Bubble, Toil & Trouble: You really can't go wrong with baking soda and vinegar here. Add in some color (we used red, yellow and orange liquid watercolor in our vinegar), some glitter (because, why not?), and some unique containers and tools (we used plastic cauldrons, "stirring wands" [chopsticks], various glass bottles and jars, pipettes, glass flasks and dessert cups, tiny dessert spoons and various pieces from a metal tea set I use in our dramatic play area here) and you've got yourself the perfect setup for Potions Class. It's the perfect backyard adventure for any wizard in training or budding scientist. We called this Potions Practice Class since I really just let the boys have at it in their own way rather than giving any formal instruction. It was colorful. It was bubbly. It was messy. It was fun!

 Polyjuice Potions: We love the magical feel of Hogwarts and we also love science. Especially on a Monday. A friend of mine told me about her kids' lava lamp experiment at a virtual camp last week and I decided I had to try it. I've heard that if you take an alka seltzer, you'll feel better fast. Other than that, I had no idea what that stuff is used for. (Antacid and pain relief, apparently...) But here, it's used for polyjuice potion lamps and in today's Potions Class, the boys made their very own. You can see a variety of ways to make a polyjuice potion lamp (aka: lava lamp) here from STEAM Powered Family. We made the glow in the dark version using tonic water, vegetable oil, food coloring (each of the boys chose two colors) and alka seltzer tablets broken into pieces. We first set up and tested the polyjuice potions in daylight at our dining room table. Next, we took them, along with a UV flashlight into our dark bathroom with the door closed. 

Disclaimer: If you are the parent of boys, you may not want to take a UV flashlight into your dark bathroom. I'm going to need therapy. Bleach and therapy.

But the glow in the dark Polyjuice Potions were so cool!

Meanwhile in the kitchen...
S has an incredible eye (and memory) for details--especially edible details. He has truly been the inspiration and brilliance behind much of our curriculum here at Hogwarts MiniCamp. Among his contributions to the agenda were "a feast" and "the cake Hagrid makes for Harry Potter that he doesn't get to eat." So last week, I conjured my inner House Elf and cooked up a feast for dinner. It was a pretty kid friendly and low maintenance feast of homemade pizza, cut up fruits and veggies and soda for a special treat (enjoyed inside a Harry Potter cup with a swirly straw, of course). We used the "nice" dishes, set out some place cards and even had a special dessert of "butter beer pudding and biscuits" and some "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" (butterscotch pudding and jelly beans).

There may have also been some chocolate frogs... You can see below a scene that never quite made it into any of the Harry Potter movies:

There certainly isn't any doing things half way here. Y takes the "school" component of Hogwarts so seriously (as he so misses school right now) that he often wears his backpack and Gryffindor tie all day! And everyone was particularly diligent about eating our themed Shabbos dessert this past week. As someone who really stinks at decorating cakes, I relished the opportunity to recreate this one!

We'll be back with more BIG adventures from our mini camp soon! Until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 2

Welcome back to Hogwarts! Today you'll join us in our first few classes--so get your wands, your robes, your Quidditch brooms and your cauldrons ready. You're going to need them!

Potions Class:

A lot of our activities these next two weeks will involve something kids of all ages LOVE--mixing up potions for play. With some household ingredients and a few teaspoons of imagination, you'll cook up some great recipes for exploring science and sensory play. I use this also as an opportunity to talk about how magical science can be. Beginning our week in the usual theme of Mad Science Mondays, I decided to have the boys try their wands (and hands) at making Wizard Slime.

My favorite slime recipe is the simple 3 ingredient one with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup school glue (I like clear gel), and 1/4 cup liquid starch (like Stay-flo). When you set the stage with some unique containers and tools for pouring, mixing and concocting, this becomes really quite magical! (And messy...let's just say, I think I understand a little more how a Pandemic spreads after letting 2 kids make their own slime with 2 kinds of green glitter...)

The recipe is pretty flawless because you can add more liquid starch if it is too sticky and it will become stiffer. Add too much and it's rather stiff and bouncy, but that can be fun, too! The boys started by pouring their glue and water into their cauldrons and mixing it with a "stirring wand" (I offered toy wands and chopsticks for this). They added in the liquid starch from a squeeze bottle and began to stir. It immediately starts to form into slime! They added in their glitter and their hands and worked the slime (with some help from me and a little more liquid starch as needed) before digging in to play. They asked for some toy bugs to use with it, so we added those in as well.

When it was time to clean up I freaked out a lot and put the slime into some jars to store for future play sessions.

The next day's Potions Class was outdoors where the boys used a giant bowl and some spoons, about 1 1/2 cups cornstarch and 1 cup water (dyed green with food coloring and prepared in a glass flask because it looks extra cool!) to mix up their own Confusion Concoction (aka: Oobleck).

The science end of this involves explaining and exploring non-newtonian fluids. It's messy. It's fun. It's pretty fool proof as you can add more water or more cornstarch as needed for thinner or thicker consistency. Outside is definitely a great place to do it, but if you're brave enough to try it indoors, you'll want to set down a drop cloth of some sort.


Transfiguration Class: 
In our first transfiguration class, the boys arrived with their wands ready to practice their first "spell" [science experiment], growing crystals! For this activity, we used pipe cleaners (in Hogwarts House colors), clear glass vases (you can use a bowl or glass), hot water and Borax powder. The boys also brought their magic wands and used some "stirring wands" (chopsticks) for mixing the solution. You'll also need some twine or fishing line, skewers or chopsticks and measuring cups/spoons.

I prepared the Borax solution in advance by heating up some water in the kettle and letting it cool just a bit. I used about 3 TBSP Borax powder per cup of hot water. The boys wanted to help mix the solution. They shaped their pipe cleaners as they desired. You can even shape them into letters of your name! I helped tie them from the chopsticks with some twine and we placed them into each of the jars, trying to keep them separated from the sides, bottom and each other. Then it was time to use their wands and say the magic spell (they chose "expecto petronum!") and wait. Waiting is the hardest part! But even in a couple of hours, you'll begin to observe crystals forming on the bottom and sides of the jar and even on the pipe cleaners themselves. When they are completely crystallized, you can display them in a sunny window.

The science end of this involves explaining how a suspension works and how the solid particles of the Borax powder remain suspended in the solution and connect to the jar and the pipe cleaners and to each other to form crystals. S had an amazing moment of scientific thinking when he wondered if ice and snow were forming. We thought about that and whether it was cold or whether our room was cold enough and decided that this was not indeed ice or snow, but that snow and ice are crystals, too!

Quidditch Practice: This daily class gets us all moving in one way or another. I prepared some "Quidditch hoops" in our backyard using garden stakes, hula hoops and duct tape plus a couple of traffic cones to help prop them upright. The boys used their Quidditch brooms (made from a large branch, dried grass/weeds and wire), balls and their imaginations. They also invented a game called "Water Quidditch" that involves shooting water through the Quidditch Hoops and even C got in on the fun using a large bowl of water as her Quidditch Hoop and some balls of her own.

Daily Quidditch practice helps the students hone in on their broom flying skills, ensures that everyone gets moving a bit and helps us prepare for any future tournaments...stay tuned!

We'll be back with more soon and until then...

Wingardium Leviosa!

I mean,

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 1

I always love planning and preparing play themes here. It's an odd hobby, I know. But once in a great while I love joining in just as much as I love the organizational end of it and in the case of our current Hogwarts MiniCamp theme, I think I love joining in even more!

I am categorizing this under summer fun mini themes but I'll give the caveat that this particular one was a little more involved and in depth than some others I've shared here. That's partly because it's the first time I've done it, partly because I've gone totally overboard and partly because there are so many creative and playful ways to take young fans (and older ones) beyond the books of Harry Potter. I will also give the caveat that I struggled with the decision of whether to carry on with our Hogwarts MiniCamp when JK Rowling made the news with some rather unsavory comments of late. My decision to move forward with it was made because my children were already looking forward to this and because I think the author's books give young readers characters and ideas to connect with. While I do support a love of literacy, imagination and wonder in children's literature, I do not support some of the values the author has shared on a personal level. I do think as my own children get older, the many authors who line our bookshelves with admirable fictional characters and less than admirable personal characteristics will spark important and ongoing dialogue about kindness and inclusion. My final caveat is that while these books explore a world of magic and make believe, I use the opportunity to embrace imagination and fantasy while also teaching about the science end of it! So you'll notice a lot of activities involving sensory play, science experiments, animal and nature studies, games and movement and more!

With that all out of the way, let's dive in to the first part in a series that will take you on a Hogwarts bound adventure with us! You can select activities "a la carte" style, making a day of it, a week of it, or randomly sprinkling them throughout the year as inspiration strikes.

Before Beginning: I love the challenge of coming up with creative ideas for learning through play. I also love collaborating. And I also know when my own breadth of knowledge is rather narrow. I am somewhat informed on the wondrous world of Harry Potter, but my husband is far more knowledgeable than I am. Actually, so is S at this point! And when it comes to amazing early childhood ideas, I often consult with fellow educators. I have a talented connection who is a mom of children close in age to S and Y and a preschool teacher and a Harry Potter fan. She had recently done some amazing themed activities for her daughter's birthday and she was generous enough to share her wisdom and creativity with me! Multiple heads are better than one. Unless your name is Fluffy... S has come up with quite a few additions to our camp repertoire as well. In terms of materials, times are tricky so I aimed to use what we have and make what we didn't have from home. I did make one quite useful downloadable purchase from Etsy. I'll list the materials used for each activity, but substitutions can be made, some left out and others added in as desired.

Setting the Stage:  The Friday before Hogwarts MiniCamp began, I set the stage, or rather, our small world play shelf with a mini Hogwarts. I created some wooden peg dolls to play the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore (ok, I actually swapped in my Father Winter peg doll from a previous activity, shhh!).

In addition to those, I included a wooden castle toy we bought from a craft supply store several years ago around Purim, our toy trains and tracks for the Hogwarts Express, some accessories from our collections of blocks, toy animals, prisms, marbles, small loose parts, rocks/gems, wool roving, fairy garden accessories and  even some of the graphics I purchased from Etsy printed onto card stock and cut out/taped. I took a lot of creative license here in order to use what we have at home. My friend who originally gave me this idea said her children played with it a ton, but I will admit that my own kids usually play with these setups a lot at first and then sporadically until I finally switch them out. Well, she was right! They really love his one! It's always fun to engage in dramatic play and explore imaginary worlds. It is somehow even more fun when that world is teeny tiny!

The night before we'd head off to Hogwarts, I set the [larger] stage for the day ahead. That included hanging our little Headwig (forgive the screech owl in place of a snowy owl) from the side of our stairs so the boys kids would see some exciting mail as they came down for breakfast. Inside of the envelopes, each of them would receive their acceptance letter to Hogwarts and a supply list of items they'd need before making the trip.

They would need to shop for supplies as well, so I set up "The Leaky Cauldron" shop at our little table (again, forgive the creative license here) with some wands to choose from (stay tuned though, because we will be doing more with this later), some wizard robes, a little notebook for each of the boys I made from the graphics I bought, a couple of cauldrons we had from the dollar store several Octobers ago, some tiny backpack wands for mixing potions (these were from Five Below) and some wand pencils for writing/drawing I made by drizzling hot glue on some pencils and painting them with acrylic paints and glitter. 

Some additional books and sensory bottles helped set the stage for our one stop shop. If we had a bit more room here, it would have been fun to have separate shops for different items and activities as portrayed in the book, but this would suffice. You'll notice we don't have any brooms for sail, but rest assured, we have a couple of perfect for Quidditch brooms in our backyard made from sticks, dried grass/leaves and wire! This would be a great activity in and of itself and we loved taking a "stick walk" to find the supplies we needed to make them back when we did the activity in the spring.

I had a frog shaped chocolate mold I used to make some chocolate frogs and I even found some free printable Wizard cards. I packaged these up and some jelly beans for "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans."

Lastly, I crafted a Sorting Hat out of card stock, a themed chandelier from recycled toilet paper tubes with hot glue dripped down the sides to look like melted wax and an LED tealight inside hung from thread above our couch.

Our Hogwarts Express was pretty low tech as you can see, but the adventure was ready to go, right after about 4 pitiful hours of sleep...

A wand must choose its
owner. S takes this very
seriously as he takes a few
for test runs.

The kids were so excited when they walked downstairs in the morning. I had the Harry Potter movie soundtrack playing in the background and they could barely wait until after breakfast to head to Hogwarts. When it was time, they got to open their letters, shop for supplies with toy money, pack up their old school backpacks and board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4!

Aboard the train, they got to buy and eat some chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Yes, in the morning. You only go to Hogwarts for the very first time once! When they finally arrived to the campus and settled into their dormitory, it was time to sit underneath the Sorting Hat who would select their Houses. Everyone (even Tatty) got to sit in the special seat as the Sorting Hat went to work. Each of the kids were presented with a House bracelet (from Five Below's party favor section).

Soon it would be time for the first of their classes to begin. I hope you'll join us next time to read all about it!

Until then, make sure you're studying up and practicing your broom flying skills and, as always...

Happy Playing!