Summer was busy! With the kids getting older, our social lives in a really good place and living in a new city with many fun things to do we didn't even come close to finishing all of my Mommy Camp plans this summer. Oh! And Arthur broke his arm at the playground during our first day of mommy camp! So he spent all summer with a cast! Other than the amazing mc plans we visited with tons of family, went to Pike's Peak to see the new visitor center, peeped bugs at the May Natural History Museum, examined plants at the Denver Botanic Gardens, ate turkey legs at a rennaisance fair, visited the ferris wheel in the new Scheel's, panned for gold and gems, hiked at Red Rocks again and spent plenty of time at the pool.
But, what we did do was pretty amazing and by including a few friends it was made extra special. As a note, my friend Kate (mom of said friends) says her kids won't take off their robes and carry their hand made familiar animals and wands with them everywhere! So, huge hit! Check out some of the fun we had and how the plans came to life!
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It started off with an owl delivering their initiations to attend the school of Witchcraft & Wizardry for Whippersnappers. You can find the letter template in the Mommy Camp document. They were given tickets for the MC Express and then "boarded/rode the train" down our diy stair slide that led to the basement where "Diagon Alley" was set-up for them to do their shopping.
The days leading up to our start of camp I made familiar animals out of socks and fabric, quills out of electrical tape and feathers, wand boxes from a printable I found (we used chopsticks as the base for our wands which we painted and electrified later), small brooms I bought from Amazon and robes from big black t-shirts. I made signs for the "shops" and they got to collect all of their supplies before heading into the "school".
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For the "school" I purchased castle decorations and hung them in our table area. I also used fishing wire to hang battery operated candles from the ceiling to add to the fun and to embody a Hogwarts vibe.
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The first thing they did was to get sorted into their house. I created my own houses and then we picked which house fit their personalities best. I made a note sheet with their houses on it for my husband who was upstairs (he works from home). Then, we called him on my phone and put it on speaker phone. We taped my phone into the top of a sorting hat I bought online and then announced each time we placed the hat on one of the kids heads so he knew who he was sorting. They thought it was magical and my husband did a great job with the voice!
For the rest of our first day we electrified our wands using led's, electrical tape, a ton of hot glue, paint and a small battery. They turned out so cool! (find the tutorial in MC Harry Potter)
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We ended our day with some broom flying photos! To get these we had the kids stand with their broom and jump as high as they could with it between their legs and their knees bent. I had to literally pancake myself to the ground to get the shot but they turned out great.
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After our first day we had a break for travel and other fun but met back up for more activities. We focused on wand magic by making feathers float with our wands using magnets. Then we practiced a balancing spell by making bridges out of straws to balance some gems. We also threw some broom fun in and made brooms out of pipe cleaners and pony beads. Then we did another broom focused activity and played pong quidditch. We ended our day by making pretzel wands.
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We only managed one other day of Mommy Camp this summer and that was a day focused on potions! It was definitely one of my favorite MC days ever and everyone had a blast. To start, we created portable potion kitchen kits for them to store their concoctions from the day and make more in the future. I spent weeks collecting various bottles and filled them with all of our ingredients and added labels that matched a recipe book for potions that I made (find it at the original post). Then we made each potion together. Some had a color reaction, some fizzed, others changed consistency but they are all awesome. After we finished each potion they put a sample of it inside of a tiny potion bottle I purchased from Hobby Lobby/Dollar Tree. Honestly, the ability to store their tiny potions in the portable kit was the highlight. Mine carried theirs around for weeks after and showed everyone they could. We ended the day by making bath bombs. They were supposed to be golden snitch's but that didn't really work out. They did smell good and still worked as a bath bomb they just didn't look like snitches.
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While we didn't even get halfway through all of my plans we most definitely had a good time so I'll call it a win. As a bonus, we can pick up where we left off next summer and I can save myself hours upon hours of planning a new MC! If you are interested in doing any of the activities mentioned be sure to visit the original post containing the FREE Harry Potter Themed Mommy Camp that includes detailed directions, supply lists and daily plans!
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