Potions

The study of potions is perhaps one of the more intriguing of wizarding endeavours. Indeed, alchemy, chemistry, medicine and even the soup you ate for lunch are all based on potions of one kind or another.

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Edible Potions:    Edible Experiments          Harry Potter Food          Regular Recipes

Herbology

The study of herbology dates from the time that people learned what was good to eat, and not so good to eat. Wise people also took note of the various effects different plants had on them, and from this, the study of herbal medicine began.

Click here to find some fun herbology activities and crafts

Transfiguration

Transfiguration is the art of changing one thing into another. When you boil an egg, you will find the inside is quite different than the inside of an uncooked egg. But can you uncook it?

The transfigurations here can be divided into those that can change back, and those that can't change back.

Charms

Perhaps the best charm magic around begins with the simple use of the magic words "please" and "thank you", and moves on to the use of other kind words and incantations. Words of encouragement and kindness have power beyond measurement. Try telling a few of the people you see every day something you like about them, something you might not normally tell them and watch their reactions. Take this a step further by doing random acts of kindness or pay it forward (see the movie of that name that is based on a true story). Or try the following activity.

This is what I like about you:
In a classroom, youth group or birthday party, have each child write down something that they like about each of the others. Be sure to monitor these so that the comments remain truly positive, then present each child with the comments the others have made about them. Roll the notes together and fasten with a ribbon, or make a small booklet from them. These make wonderful keepsakes.

Care of Magical Creatures

Did you know that dragons really do exist? Komodo dragons may not fly like many mythical dragons, but they are fierce nonetheless.

Many animals have some fascinating characteristics which might help explain the origin of mythical creatures.

Try finding out more about some truly amazing creatures such as:

• the lantern fish, who carries its own light


• the giant squid, and its octopus cousins who can change their skin colour and texture nearly instantly


• the giant worms of Australia, the giant Beachworm and the Giant Gippsland, which can reach 2.5 m long (about 10 ft.!)

Astronomy

The sky that we see now looks nearly the same as the sky that the early Egyptians gazed upon. What things would have changed?
For more about astronomy, check out this Astronomy lessons site.

Arithmancy

                     6   1   __

                     7   5    3

                    __  9    4

External links to more fun with magic squares:
more about magic squares and other cool math
more magic square challenges

Other interesting numbers to explore:

• easily factored numbers, such as 8, 12, 100
• prime numbers (numbers that can only be factored by one and themselves)
• magic numbers are numbers which follow this pattern: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 etc.
  (add the last two numbers in the sequence to get the next number: 0 + 1 = 1, 1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5 etc.) Try and find as many natural occurrences of these numbers as you can. Hint: try looking at the sections in a piece of fruit, rows in a pinecone, etc.
• Pi or pi is a mathematical constant and an irrational real number, which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter--try and solve it to as many places as you can--the pattern will not repeat
• How big is a googolplex?
• Which number is both the largest and the smallest number?
• How many times can you fold a piece of paper in half before it becomes too thick to fold? Does this change with the size or thickness of the paper?

Defense Against the Dark Arts

The best defenses children can have against the "dark arts" are confidence and good judgment. Adults can help with these by actively listening to the concerns of children, watching for signs that might indicate bullying or abuse, and street proofing. Simply knowing what they can do in a scary or difficult situation can bring a sense of empowerment and confidence to people of any age.

Younger children may benefit from role playing games, and older ones can learn some self defense moves, as well as some general safety pointers. Consider having a martial arts or self-defense instructor come in and give a lesson or two to your group.

Sometimes people want to believe that if they'd been in a bad situation, they would have been able to prevent it from happening to them. They inadvertently blame the victim for making poor choices. This can cause victims to feel too ashamed to seek the help they need. Remember to emphasize that while a victim may have not made a good choice (or may not have had the opportunity to do so), that does not mean that they are to blame for something bad that has happened. Let's keep the blame with the perpetrators!

Additional Games and Activities

Crafts

Using one box, cut off the back panel, leaving the top and bottom intact. You may wish to turn the box inside out if there is a lot of print; use packing tape or duct tape to refasten the edges where needed.

Using an over-sized rectangular sponge, stamp on some tempera paint "bricks" following the overlapping pattern you usually see on a brick wall.
Once dry, decide on your cutout lines, which should follow the zigzag shapes between the bricks. We used an uppercase "I" shape as a base and followed the lines of the brick. The lines you cut will be the opening that magically appears on Platform 9 3/4. Have an adult cut through the line with an exacto knife for you.

Use a piece of dowelling, old hockey or broomstick and attach a sign to each side--"Platform 9" and "Platform 10", then lay this along the top of your box pillar. Tape it down to keep it from rolling away. Now you can try getting on the platform! This can also be used to make a breakaway wall for the castle below.

Build a Castle

This one requires a fair bit of space!

Use either three refrigerator boxes, two refrigerator boxes and an oven or washing machine-sized box, or one refrigerator and two smaller boxes. The two similar boxes will be your end towers, and the other will lie down on its side in between. In the middle box, you will be making a drawbridge. Choose your shape and draw it ahead.
When you cut it out (an adult needs to do this please!), be sure to leave it attached at the bottom. Cut a hole into each of the two top corners of the door, and another in the main wall beside the tops of the doors. It is a good idea to cover these with a layer of duct tape for reinforcement. You will need to measure how much heavy yarn or rope you will need to thread through these holes to allow your drawbridge to open completely, and add about 20 cm for tying knots in place. Now it's time to line up your towers. Cut an opening in the back of each tower that will allow the largest of the children to easily pass through. Copy this size and shape onto the wall facing the middle box and cut that out as well. Trace this shape onto the middle box for both towers and cut it out. Tape the boxes together so that the doors line up. The three boxes together will form a tunnel with an extra opening at the front through the drawbridge. Cut out extra windows as desired, then have the kids decorate their castle. Try adding a paper portcullis to the windows and an extra door, and use a large rectangular sponge to stamp tempera or poster paint brincks onto the cardboard. Some other things you may wish to add:

• paper cone and tissue paper torches
• a periscope
• a sliding brick to allow you to secretly watch for intruders
• a breakaway wall (see platform 9 3/4 above) that "breaks" when hit with rolled-up sock "artillery"
• a dungeon with a barred window
• a courtyard with cushions, seats, games, etc. inside
• a secret room or passageway
• painted or plastic ivy on the walls
• banner with the royal coat of arms
• a stable
• thrones

Wizard Coins and Runes

Here are two ways to make coins; the first is to spray-paint buttons of different sizes, the second is to make these from polymer clay. From polymer clay, choose metallic or transparent colours. In one of the Harry Potter books (the first or second), Ron comments that muggle money has a strange shape, so you may want to consider this when deciding on how your galleons, sickles and knuts will look. Be sure to use only polymer-clay dedicated tools (meaning, don't use cutlery you intend to eat with later on). We used a plastic knife, the lid from a pen, some alphabet stamps and some toothpicks to make ours. Bake as directed on the package.

Wizard runes can be made the same way. Use your favourite rune symbols and carve or stamp them onto polymer clay coins.

Wands

If you are in a hurry, store-bought enamel-painted chopsticks work well.

    If you would like to make your own, you will need:

• one short thin stick (between 16 and 35 cm long)
• food colouring or tempera paint and brushes
• clear acrylic craft varnish
• sandpaper
• optional: cellophane or masking tape ("spellotape" for Ron's broken wand)

Wizard Games

Wizard Food

There are many websites that have some great wizarding recipes, including The Leaky Cauldron. Here are a few more to keep your group happy and well-fed.

Potion Soup

Wand Kebabs

You will need:
assorted fruit chunks (pineapple, cantaloupe, banana, melon, etc.)
large berries (strawberries, larger blueberries, etc.)
skewers
candy clay formed into star shapes
optional: coloured sugar to press the stars into before adding

Arrange fruit in desired pattern on skewers, top with candy clay star.

Chocolate Frogs

You will need:
frog-shaped candy mould
semi-sweet chocolate chips (or non-hydrogenated melting wafers)
sweetened condensed milk
pop-rocks or similar candy
a thick-bottomed pot or double boiler
a pastry brush
a tiny spoon

Over low heat (a double boiler works best), melt in the following proportions: 1 cup of chips and 2 tablespoons condensed milk. Do not overheat!

Thickly brush the insides of the moulds with the melted mixture and let set.
Spoon some pop rocks into the middle of the set chocolate, then fill the moulds with the rest of the melted mixture. let set (but don't refrigerate). These will whiten as the carbon dioxide is released from the pop rocks, so are best eaten within 24 hours.

Pumpkin Juice 1

Ingredients:
One small can of pumpkin, or about 1.5 cups of cooked mashed pumpkin
One litre of "Holly Nog" Soy Beverage made by Vitasoy

Combine both ingredients in a blender, serve fresh or refrigerate.

Pumpkin Juice 2

Ingredients:
One small can of pumpkin, or about 1.5 cups of cooked mashed pumpkin
1 cup of orange juice
2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp each of nutmeg and cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice or cloves
sweeten to taste

Combine pumpkin and orange in blender, add milk and remaining ingredients and combine again. Serve chilled.

Butterbeer

We made this for our parties. This is a drink best left for special occasions, as there is nothing even remotely nutritionally redeeming about it!
If you opt to add butter, it is best served warmed up as the butter will solidify at the top if it is chilled.

Ingredients:
2 l bottle of root beer (caffeine-free)
1 l bottle of club soda
one of the following: 3 Tablespoons melted butter; 1/3 cup whipped cream;
4 Tablespoons butterscotch topping (homemade is best)

Heat in a pot on the stove and stir all the ingredients except the rootbeer and club soda until melted together. Add the rootbeer and club soda and turn off the heat, allowing the leftover heat to warm the mixture. Serve hot, or chill if using the whipped cream.

Another version that we did not try uses sweetened condensed milk instead of the butter/whipped cream, and half the butterscotch. You can also experiment with the proportions of root beer and club soda.

Also see edible science experiments for more wizard food ideas.

Cake

There are many castle cake ideas found on the internet. For a simple ice cream castle cake, fill a clean toy sand castle mould with slightly softened butter pecan ice cream (or flavour of your choice). Refreeze and unmould onto a cake platter covered in green cake sprinkles (grass), and embellish with a paper flag or two. You can add a cookie drawbridge and spread blue tinted icing on the cake platter for a moat. Crush a few graham or similar cookies for extra sand. Add a few chocolate shells here and there if you wish. A few candy clay or toy trees complete the scene.

If you are feeling inventive, you can make a snitch cake by baking a mix in a custom sphere pan, or cheat and use rounded mixing bowls, then invert one cake onto the other, sealing them together with extra icing or jam. Depending on the type and size of your cake, you may need to support it by running clean dowels through the centre. Ice it with golden icing, and use angel wings, cardboard wings or candy clay wings to embellish. You can copy the fancy swirl pattern with icing as well.

A wizard hat cake can be made by stacking cakes baked in pyrex measuring cups, bowls, and/or angel food pans, depending on the desired finished size. Support the cake as needed by running cake dowelling up through the centre of the cake. Set the sections on a rim of rolled fondant icing or an extra large baked cookie. A rolled fondant icing forms the "fabric" of the hat. Cut star shapes from cookie cutters in a contrasting colour to finish it off.

We also made ice-cream cone wizard hats. To do these, melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and add a few drops of blue food colouring to make it appear black. Spread the chocolate over the cone, then press in edible silver and gold balls, star and lightning cake quins.

Once these have set, prepare round cookies (be sure that they are slightly larger than the opening of the cone) by laying them out on a baking sheet. Scoop your favourite ice cream inside the cones, pushing it in so that the ice cream is flush with the top of the cone, then invert on top of the cookie. You may wish to pipe a seam of frosting along the bottom edge.

Variation: instead of filling with ice cream, insert candy and give these out as party favours.

We made a fancy 3-D dragon cake complete with curly candle "fire" and dry-ice "smoke". There were also red wings made from fruit roll-ups formed around bendy straws which did not make it into the pictures.

The dry ice was in a chamber we made beneath the cake platter, and rose through bendy-straws that were embedded in the cake.

For instructions, follow this link.

For more food ideas, see my edible science page.