TPiB: Magic in Books and Movies, past, present and future (part 1)
I am a huge fan of fantasy fiction, and whenever I can do anything that ties that into a program, I am all for it. Add in the huge popularity of a HUGE movie franchise, a recent movie release, and an upcoming movie, and it’s a recipe for excitement! Not to mention, they absolutely fit within the Collaborate Summer Reading Program themes…..
First up, Neville! Oh, wait, I mean, Harry Potter!
HARRY POTTER PROGRAM
ACTIVITIES
Pass the Mandrake
Decorate a stuffed item or plushy (or more than one for added chaos) to simulate the screaming mandrake plants from the world of Hogwarts. Gather everyone in a circle. When the music starts (to the soundtrack of the movies, of course), have the participants toss the Mandrake around the circle (if you have more than one, have one passed around the circle while one is tossed). When the music stops, those who have possession of the Mandrake are OUT. The winners are the ones who last the longest.
Decorate a stuffed item or plushy (or more than one for added chaos) to simulate the screaming mandrake plants from the world of Hogwarts. Gather everyone in a circle. When the music starts (to the soundtrack of the movies, of course), have the participants toss the Mandrake around the circle (if you have more than one, have one passed around the circle while one is tossed). When the music stops, those who have possession of the Mandrake are OUT. The winners are the ones who last the longest.
Feed the Norwegian Ridgeback
Prepare a piece of cardboard by drawing a dragon face on it and cutting a hole where the mouth would be – large enough for say, rolled up socks or bean bags to be thrown through. Lean the dragon face against a chair and place it 6-8 feet away (depending upon the abilities and ages of your group). Create your own “food” for the dragon by decorating beanbags or rolled up socks to be fun. Everyone takes a turn throwing three items of “food” into the dragon’s mouth. If you want to make it harder, draw lines with masking tape on the floor in different distances and make them step back in each round, or design a three headed dragon (or substitute a picture of Fluffy,the three headed dog) and have them have to hit all three mouths.
Prepare a piece of cardboard by drawing a dragon face on it and cutting a hole where the mouth would be – large enough for say, rolled up socks or bean bags to be thrown through. Lean the dragon face against a chair and place it 6-8 feet away (depending upon the abilities and ages of your group). Create your own “food” for the dragon by decorating beanbags or rolled up socks to be fun. Everyone takes a turn throwing three items of “food” into the dragon’s mouth. If you want to make it harder, draw lines with masking tape on the floor in different distances and make them step back in each round, or design a three headed dragon (or substitute a picture of Fluffy,the three headed dog) and have them have to hit all three mouths.
Azkaban picture
Create a frame out of cardboard saying “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?!?!?!?” and AZKABAN PRISON NUMBER with hole for kids to put their faces through. Then have someone with a digital camera take pictures with the patrons making their scariest or weirdest faces. Upload them to the library’s social media site (as your policies permit) so that they can download them to their own social pages.
Create a frame out of cardboard saying “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?!?!?!?” and AZKABAN PRISON NUMBER with hole for kids to put their faces through. Then have someone with a digital camera take pictures with the patrons making their scariest or weirdest faces. Upload them to the library’s social media site (as your policies permit) so that they can download them to their own social pages.
CRAFTS
Draw Your Own Marauders Map
Newsprint or construction paper
Crayons
Stickers
Newsprint or construction paper
Crayons
Stickers
Have the participants draw their own Marauders Map (from the Weasley’s twins)- a map of Hogwarts Castle and all the classrooms. Award prizes for the most creative, and who adds in the most detail.
Book of Monsters
Book or journal
Construction Paper or Paper Bag for Book Cover
Crayons
Googly eyes
Felt
Book or journal
Construction Paper or Paper Bag for Book Cover
Crayons
Googly eyes
Felt
Fake Fur
Feathers
Other Embellishments
Feathers
Other Embellishments
There is an awesome tutorial about how to create bookcovers on Family Crafts– just have your youth bring their own book or journal.
Declare Your Allegiance
Drag out the button maker, and let your tweens declare their allegiance. Are they Hufflepuffs, Sylverin, Griffendors or Ravenclaws? Print out templates of the various house crests for them to color, then cut to size and create their own crest buttons. Get wild and let them create their own buttons to fit in the books. If you need examples, the books are rife with them: Hermione’s S.P.E.W. button, Ron’s buttons for the Chuddley Cannons or Draco’s Potter Stinks button…
Next, a classic and a recent release….
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL PROGRAM
ACTIVITIES
SORT YOUR TEENS
While the original Wizard of Oz that everyone is familiar with shows the citizens of the Emerald City, the Land of Oz is actually split into four separate sections, one for each of the witches to rule over. Start out your program by separating out your teens into North (Gillikins- Locasta) , South (Quadlings- Glinda), East (Munchkins- Evanora), and West (Winkies- Theodora) for their respective lands. If you have stations for crafts and activities, these can be used to rotate teens around the room.
Broomstick Races
Get four or more broomsticks (ask staff to help with borrowing them for the program- no wiffers allowed), and break your group into the number of teams. When the clock starts, the first person on each team has to fly around the room (skipping, no running for safety of all concerned) at least once (twice maybe depending on the size of your room), and then tag the next person on their team. The race is won when the first team finishes. You can bother teams (place obstacles and whammies in their way) by hitting them with blue raffia (water) or Toto, or other things from the original OZ movie which would send someone back to start.
Get four or more broomsticks (ask staff to help with borrowing them for the program- no wiffers allowed), and break your group into the number of teams. When the clock starts, the first person on each team has to fly around the room (skipping, no running for safety of all concerned) at least once (twice maybe depending on the size of your room), and then tag the next person on their team. The race is won when the first team finishes. You can bother teams (place obstacles and whammies in their way) by hitting them with blue raffia (water) or Toto, or other things from the original OZ movie which would send someone back to start.
Another various would be to have certain people be designated the wicked witches, while other are Tin Men, Scarecrows, Lions and Totos, and have the witches try and catch the others.
OZ Relay
In the movie, Oz has to do some quick changes in costumes, especially near the end. Have your tweens do a relay race by having two sets of clothes for each team (make sure they’re big enough for your biggest kid). Set each outfit (including a hat, pants, shirt, shoes, and tie) at opposite ends, and the teams in the middle. When you say go, have the first person from each team run to point A and get dressed, then tag person B in the middle. While person B gets dressed, person A must get UNDRESSED. When B is fully dressed, they run to the middle and they tag C, who takes A’s clothes back to start. C then tags D who takes B’s clothes back to start. Only one person can be missing from base at a time. Everyone from the team MUST take a turn getting dressed and MUST take a turn running the clothes back in order to win.
CRAFTS
Thinking about crafts for your teens and looking for inspiration?
What about creating hot air balloons and letting loose your own wizard to Oz? Bkids has an awesome idea for hot air balloons using helium balloons, food product netting, and small baskets…. And if you can’t get helium use water bottles, baking soda and vinegar.
Or, create your own flying monkeys! Take a standard, like these from Oriental Trading Company, and let the teens decorate with markers, and add in construction paper wings for your own flying monkey army!
If your teens are into jewelry, check out Spoonful’s Shrink Oz charms! If you don’t have the means to create shrink charms at work it would mean taking your work home with you, or morphing it around to mod podging pictures onto bottle caps or other media, but I love the effect! Or, if you don’t want to let your teens loose with mod podge, search around craft stores for iconic beads and charms that would fit the theme and let them create away.
You can make personalized snowglobes easily with pictures, empty jars and glycerin. Instead of calling them snow globes though, call them tornado globes. Complete instructions here.
Modify crafts you already know and love to fit the theme: You can do Oz themed marble magnets, bottle cap crafts, or felties. Teens can use images from the movie or use words like heart, brain, courage. In fact, you can ask teens: If they were going to see the Wizard, what would you ask him for?
You can set up a scavenger hunt throughout the library and have teens search for a heart, brain, courage, ruby red slippers and more.
Next Up? A new release! The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones . . .
Next Up? A new release! The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones . . .
Filed under: Collaborative Summer Reading Program, Harry Potter, mortal instruments, Oz the Great and Powerful, TPIB, Wizard of Oz
About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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