HPSC: Week 5, History of Magic

Week Five:  June 26-30

This week was History of Magic week.  This was a difficult week to plan.  There is not a whole lot of Harry Potter History of Magic type stuff that can be done so I looked at it from the point of view of the History of Magic in real life.

Bug-A-Boo has this great series of books that she got a few birthday's ago.  It is the Wizardology series.  I decided to look through that and see what I could find that could be turned into some fun camp activities.  As I read I found a lot of information on Wizard codes and other codes used throughout history.

Sydney loves to break codes so I thought this would be fun for us.

DAY 1

Unfortunately, there is no Daily Prophet this week.  Our trusty reporter was pretty busy and missed her deadline.  Oh well, we should be back to our regular publishing schedule next week.

The first thing we did was talk about the house ghosts at Hogwarts and we learned a little about their backgrounds.  Then we were going to use our worksheet to create our own house ghost.  This proved to be challenging and we still have not finished the worksheet.

After talking about House Ghosts we learned about the 7 different kinds of codes:  Pig Latin, Hieroglyphics, Bi-Literarie alphabet, Polybius's Cypher, Morse Code, Sigillum Mysteriorum and Mary Queen of Scot's code.

One of the fun things in the Wizardology books is that there was a hidden code written in the margins of each chapter.  We went through the book and deciphered the code.

DAY 2

Today we are working on writing and deciphering codes as well as working on our Girl Scout Junior Scribe Badge.  Step #1 of the Scribe Badge is Start with a Poem.  We wrote a haiku in a code of our choice and then we each had to decode each others haiku.

Bug-a-Boo's haiku

My haiku

DAY 3

A few years ago, when I made Bug-A-Boo her Harry Potter birthday trunk I found several Harry Potter science kits on amazon.  I bought all that I could find and we hadn't gotten around to using them yet so this summer camp was going to be the perfect opportunity to finally do that.

For History of Magic I chose the Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets Spells & Potions Science Activity Kit-Sounds of Hogwarts.  We worked on the Flight of the Salamander, Straw Kazoo and the Howler experiments and unfortunately none of them worked very well.  It was extremely disappointing but we hope the others are better.

DAY 4

Today we played our Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit game and we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while working on our Hogwarts Latch hook rug.  We also wrote our limericks today which completed Step #1 of the Scribe Badge.

Bug-a-Boo's Limerick:
There once was a boy named Neville.
He met quite a devil.
Her name was Bellatrix.
On his parents she put quite the fix.
In her defeat he will revel.

My Limerick:
There once was a boy named Harry.
His childhood was extremely scary.
But then all that changed,
It was all prearranged,
and at Hogwarts his life was merry.

After writing our limericks we hopped in the car and headed to the Be Amazing Magic Shop or for our camp purposes Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  The Be Amazing Magic Shop is located at 80 N. Hamilton Rd. in Gahanna.  We had no idea what to expect.

This is definitely a shop for "professional" magicians and Sydney was a little disappointed at first.  Then the man behind the counter started talking to her and showed her a couple of tricks and she loved it.  We bought a few inexpensive tricks and she had a fun time showing Grandma and Grandpa.

DAY 5

Today is Field Trip day.  Since there is no place that depicts the History of Magic I thought we could learn about the History of Ohio.  We visited the Ohio History Center and Ohio Village.  We had a lot of fun at the Ohio Village.

In order to finish Step 2 of the Girl Scout Junior Scribe badge Bug-a-Boo wrote a 5 page short story about a little robot on an adventure.  It was really very good.

Next week...Astronomy

HPSC: Week 4 - Potions

Week Four:  June 19-23

This week was a busy week with Potions.  Professor Snape would be proud.

DAY 1

Unfortunately, there is no Daily Prophet this week.  Our trusty reporter was pretty busy and missed her deadline.  Oh well, we should be back to our regular publishing schedule next week.

We started to make rock candy today.  We followed the directions I found at this website.  We had all of our materials and our candy flavoring.  We chose Cherry and Grape and we were excited to make some candy!

Bug-A-Boo wearing her Harry Potter apron

Grape and Cherry sugar water

The prepared candy sticks

Unfortunately, we knew pretty early on that we must have done something wrong because it looked nothing like the pictures on the website.  We kept it going for a few days and I even tried to recook the Grape mixture but it just wasn't working.  We may try again later in the summer, we still have Strawberry and Watermelon flavoring.

Also on today's schedule was dying flowers.  This is not only a cool potions project but it also satisfies Step 2 of the Girl Scout Juniors Flower Badge.

We got our white carnations from Hilliard Floral Design, right in Old Hilliard, and grabbed some food coloring and jars.  I got the instructions on how to dye flowers from a website that I found on Pinterest.

We cut the stems and sliced the ends a little to allow the colored water a way to really get in there and then we waited.

DAY 2

Today we are going to be satisfying Step 3 of the Girl Scout Junior Flower badge by finding out how flowers help people and learn about different essential oils made from flowers and their healing properties.  We will then be making some great potions with those oils.

The oils we learned about were:  Clary Sage, Geranium, Lavender and Ylang Ylang

Once we learned about the different oils we gathered our materials to make our potions.  We made our own Shampoo and Conditioner using the following ingredients:

-  1/4 cup of Distilled Water
-  1/4 cup liquid castile soap
-  1/2 teaspoon of grapeseed oil (can also use jojoba or other vegetable oil)
-  1/4 teaspoon essential oil of your choice

We doubled the recipe and Bug-A-Boo used Lavender and I used Lemon and Lime.

For the Conditioner we used:

-  1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
-  1 cup distilled water
-  8 drops of essential oil of your choice

We did not double the conditioner recipe.  Bug-A-Boo used Eucalyptus and I used Wild Orange.

Our next potion was a Healing Hand Lotion.  The ingredients are:

-  1/2 cup coconut oil (best to use cold pressed, extra virgin, organic, unrefined)

-  4 drops Frankincense Essential Oil

-  2 drops Lavender Essential Oil

-  1 drop Lemon Essential Oil

Just drop everything in a mixer (or do it by hand) and whip for 5 minutes.  Transfer to a glass jar (citrus oils will eat away plastic containers), and you're done!  

Next we made a Blemish Blend for those stubborn little spots we sometimes get on our face.

-  10 drops Frankincense Essential Oil

-  10 drops Geranium Essential Oil

-  10 drop Melaleuca Essential Oil

-  Fractionated Coconut Oil

Put in a 10ml Roller Ball Bottle

Our final potion for the day was Happy Place Blend.  We made a rollerball to apply topically and we also made a blend for our diffuser.

-  2 drops Ylang Ylang

-  2 drops Wild Orange

-  2 drops Lavender

We love the smell of the Happy Blend.  It is wonderful!

The flowers are coming along really well too.

Flowers Day 2

DAY 3

Today we are doing some really fun and interesting Potion projects.  I had searched the internet for different projects and found some great ones.  First I gathered all of our supplies and used special Potions Labels to label our ingredients.

The first one we did was Helious Potion.

Helious Potion

Materials:

Empty soda or water bottle (any size)

Balloon

Powdered Bicorn Horn (baking soda)

Tantacula Acid (vinegar)

Paper Towel

Directions:

1. Tear the paper towel in half. Take one half and tear it in half again. You will use one of

these smaller squares as your "wrapper".

2. Place about a tablespoon of powdered Bicorn horn on your wrapper. Fold it up and

twist the ends closed so that the powdered Bicorn horn is neatly inside.

3. Pour about 1/4 cup of Tantacula Acid into your bottle, then add the wrapper of

powdered Bicorn horn.

4. Quickly place the balloon securely over the top of the bottle and watch the balloon

blow up all by itself!

NOTE:

You can swirl the liquid in the bottle to help the two chemicals react once the balloon is

fastened to the top.

Seer’s Milk (used in divination to see the future)

Materials:

Unicorn milk (milk)

Rainbow Rock extract (food coloring)

Aged Bloodstone Liquid (dish soap)

Shallow pan (like a pie pan)

Directions:

1. Pour Unicorn milk in a pie pan, and allow the milk to warm to room temperature.

2. Place a few drops of different colored Rainbow Rock extract into the pan of milk.

3. Next, place a few drops of aged Bloodstone liquid into the pan of milk.

4. Watch what happens.

Dragon Snot (when fed to a hippogriff, it will be under your complete control)

Ingredients:

1 cup Leech Juice (glue)

Rainbow Rock extract (optional: coloring can stain!) (food coloring)

1 cup Dragon Bile (liquid starch)

Directions:

Pour leech juice and coloring in plastic container.

Stir until color is thoroughly mixed in.

Add dragon bile a little at a time, stirring with a spoon or kneading with your fingers as

mixture thickens.

Keep stirring until mixture holds together like putty.

Test with your fingers: if too sticky, add more starch in small amounts until mass is

smooth and rubbery.

Our favorite one by far was the Exploding Soap.

Exploding Soap

Some Magical messes can only be removed from the skin with exploded soap.  Transform an ordinary bar of Muggle Soap into a cloud-like cake of Charmed Cleansing Castile.

Ingredients

• Bar of Ivory Soap (Muggle Soap)
• Microwave Safe Plate

Instructions

-Place Muggle soap on a plate

-Heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes

-Watch as it bubbles and grows into a cloud-like shape over 6 times its original size

Burning Basilisk Skin

Use caution! Basilisks are one of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world. Their venom is very potent, one of only three things capable of destroying an evil horcrux.

The skin shed by the basilisk is a powerful ingredient in many potions. Since it is quite unstable, the skins are transformed into a powdered form.

We must burn the basilisk skin powder to make the snake skin reappear by following the process below.

Ingredients for This Potion

•Powdered sugar (Powdered Basilisk Skin)

•Baking soda (Horn of Bicorn)

•Rubbing alcohol (Dragon Drool)

•Heat-resistant bowl or pan (We used a Pyrex mixing bowl.)

•Matches

Instructions

In your plastic cup (Small Cauldron), mix:

•4 teaspoons Basilisk Powder

•1 teaspoon Horn of Bicorn

Set the powdered mixture aside.

In your large Pyrex or metal bowl/pan (Fireproof Cauldron):  Flip the cauldron (cup) full of powdered mixture over in the bottom of your heat-resistant mixing bowl or pan. It’s like making a sand castle. Leave the cup in place.

Add Dragon Drool (alcohol or fuel) to bowl. Stop when the bottom of the bowl is covered. The more you add, the longer you’ll have to wait for your fire to burn out.

Lift the cup away carefully. You want to keep the powder dry, so try not to let it spread out into the fuel.

Have an adult ignite the fuel using a match and stand back. We just dropped the match in and let it burn along with the alcohol.

Never add more fuel to the burning snake. You risk igniting the alcohol stream. This potion will probably burn longer than you expect. Ours kept going for several minutes. Keep careful 

watch on it!

At first, you’ll see a flame and some small black balls.

When the mixture starts reacting to the heat, you can watch little carbon snakes start to extrude.

Ask: What does it smell like?, What does it feel like?

Our last potion of the day was a yummy one and one we saved for after dinner.

Goblin Guts (gives the drinker a boost of strength)

Materials:

Moonstone Juice

Mandrake Juice

Simply mix Moonstone Juice and Mandrake Juice together. Use dry ice for potions

effect.

We are loving the flowers!

Flowers Day 3

DAY 4

Today is kind of a crazy day!  We have TaeKwonDo, Piano lessons and tutoring.  We are also going to the Columbus Metropolitan Library-Hilliard Branch for a Harry Potter-Potions 101 event.  Hopefully it will be fun!

The flowers are really getting color!

Flowers Day 4

DAY 5

It's a rainy day today so we will be watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and making a "Potion" of Butter Beer.  For the recipe check out my blog post from Bug-A-Boo's birthday party.

We are taking the flowers to Grandpa Pietrzak today.  Hopefully they will cheer him up and add a little color to his room at Darby Glenn Rehab Facility.

Next week...History of Magic!

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HPSC: Week 3, Transfiguration

Week Three:  June 12-16

This week is Transfiguration.  When figuring out what we were going to do this week I immediately thought about art and how artists transfigure an lump of clay or a canvas into works of art.  I knew that this week would be about art.

Day1

We started the day by filling out our Transfiguration worksheet.  We circled two words to make something silly.  Bug-A-Boo did rainbow foot and I did apple box.  we each drew a picture of it and then we transfigured clay into sculptures of our objects.  Bug-A-Boo decided to go off worksheet and created a tie-died Mickey instead.

Because we were running late at the Daily Prophet press.  Our reporter turned in her review of the Ohio Caverns late.  We had an afternoon edition of the Daily Prophet.

Page 1

Page 2

Day 2

Today we will be transfiguring everyday objects into jewelry.  This also satisfying the Step 3 of the Girl Scouts Junior Jewelry badge.  Once But-a-Boo has completed this she will have earned her Jewelry badge.

I found this really pretty bracelet made out of safety pins at this website.

The instructions said to use the stunning Midnight Garden range from Cousin to make this funky bracelet but I could not find what they were talking about so we went to Michaels and just looked at the beads and found some that were similar to the picture.

1. Take 10 safety pins and thread onto each a small mirror bead, a shell bead and another mirror bead. Close each safety pin to secure the beads.
2. Take 5 more safety pins and thread onto each a small black faceted bead, a purple crystal and another black bead. Secure together in a chain using jump rings.
3. Take the round section of the large toggle clasp and use jump rings to attach each strand to one of the holes. (Alternate the strands.)
4. Repeat at the other end of the bracelet with the other part of the clasp.
5. Add the t-bar to the end of the clasp using a jump ring.

Day 3

Today we have a special event we are going to at Peace and Good Things in Hilliard.  Peace and Good Things is a WellNest that is bringing relaxation and healing to Old Hilliard with massage therapy and movement.  But it is also so much more than that!!! 

This summer is the third annual "camp" Peace and Good Things. During June, July and August Eliza will be having events geared towards kids (and still fun for adults!). Kids of all ages are welcome. They must, however, be accompanied by an adult. That adult can determine whether the activity at hand is appropriate for the age of the child. This way younger siblings can come with older siblings even if they might not be interested in the event going on. The 'Nest is full of many pretty things. Lots of things for kiddos to get into...you will want to have a good ratio of adult to child for those who need extra monitoring due to age or personality!   Today's event is:

Flower Pressings and Canvases

Come learn how to press flowers the quick way! (We will also talk about the traditional method). Then make "flower power" art canvases out of your preserved blooms! Flowers and canvases provided, but feel free to bring your own blooms!

We had a great time and Bug-a-Boo transfigured dried flowers into a beautiful canvas.

We love the events at Peace and Good Things, aka The 'Nest and we love the owner, Eliza Hechmer and I highly recommend you check out her website and the events she has going on this summer.

Day 4

Today we are working on a Father's Day worksheet since this Sunday is Father's Day.  We are also going to continue working on our latch hook rugs and watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Our writing assignment this week is a lead in to next weeks class, Potions.  It is "How would you use Liquid Luck?"

Day 5
Today is our field trip day.  Originally we were going to go to the Columbus Museum of Arts but we may not be able to fit it into our schedule this week.  Instead we went to Flourish & Blotts (aka the main branch of The Columbus Metropolitan Library) and the Forbidden Forest (aka The Topiary Park).  We brought along our painting boxes and transfigured canvas and tiles into art.

We also brought along our digital camera and Bug-a-Boo took photos of the landscapes at the park which satisfies Step 2 of the Girl Scout Junior Digital Photography badge.  In order to complete Step 3 of the badge she has to edit (or transfigure) three of these photos using a computer editing program.

She used BeFunky:  Free Online Photo Editor for the above three photos.

Next week...Potions!