First, kids feasted on wizard-themed snacks such as wands (pretzel sticks), witches' cauldrons (brownie bites) and golden snitches (glazed munchkins). Each attendee received a recipe for butterbeer and Miss Jackie demonstrated how to make it! The butterbeer recipe we used was perfect for a hot day and included vanilla ice cream, cream soda, whipped cream and butterscotch sauce. The recipe we used can be found here.
While enjoying their butterbeer and snacks, everyone made their own wands using different crafting materials such as feathers, glitter glue, washi tape, stickers, gems and chop sticks. The kids did an excellent job with this and made some really awesome wands - just like Harry and his friend's used in the book series.
After everyone finished their wands, we had a trivia contest. Children broke into four groups based on the Hogwarts House they chose from the sorting hat when they arrived for the program. We had the Slytherin team, the Hufflepuff team, the Ravenclaw team and the Gryffindor team. Then I asked about 30 different trivia questions about the Harry Potter series. The competition was fierce and the scores were s close that everyone got an extra raffle ticket for their efforts!
After the trivia contest, children did a scavenger hunt on the main floor of the library to find the 7 horcruxes, just like Harry Potter had to. Each horcrux had a clue to where it's location was, and children had to use their knowledge of the library and different resources (like the OPAC and the librarian) to follow the clues and find where the horcruxes were hidden. Kids had 10 minutes to find the 7 horcruxes and they did a great job finding all of them!
