Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts

In the first session of camp, we combined Charms and Transfiguration (and also kind of Defense Against the Dark Arts) under the title "Spellwork Class." However, there were two spellwork classes over the two weeks and I ended up developing a third, so for the second session I decided to just call the classes separate names to make it more similar to the book.

This class took place in the basement (see descriptions of decorations under the post "Decorations"), where there was space for a table to act as a desk, some floor space for dueling, and a large-screen TV for spell computer programs that the kids would be able to interact with.

The first day of camp was the Charms lesson, so that they could learn some spells, which is the most important part of having a wand! In that class, we talked about their different wand cores and woods and what they meant, practiced saying and doing the movement for a few spells from their books that they picked out, and then I had a computer program where they could point their wands at the screen and practice tracing the movement of the spell with their wands. The final activity was a "Lumos" activity with flashlights, where the kids were split into two teams, and each team was given a baggy with a deconstructed flashlight inside, and they raced to see who could put the flashlight back together first, and then say "Lumos" and "Nox" while turning the flashlight on and off.

The second week we had Transfiguration. We played the "Transfiguration Challenge," which is basically charades but with clay and Harry Potter-themed words. Then the kids learned the rules of dueling and did some practice duels. For this lesson, we printed out signs with the name, symbol, and what the spell caused to happen and hung them around the room for quick reference. Another possible idea that we found was the "Transfiguration Dilemma," where everyone has been transfigured into a character or creature whose name is on their back and they have to figure out who they are by asking yes/no questions.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was during the first week. We started by learning about boggarts and practicing banishing them with a computer program. Then we talked about dementors and patronuses, and we went around the room and everyone said what they thought their patronus was. Then I used (another) computer program that takes some information and shows what your patronus would be! After that, we went outside to play "Dementor Freeze Tag" to practice banishing Dementors (one of the other counselors in a dementor costume. We played a version where if the kids don't do a good enough spell, they get tagged and frozen, and the professor will bring them a piece of chocolate to unfreeze them. This worked ok because the kids wanted to run around, but a couple of them kept being frozen on purpose just to get more chocolate. If there had been extra time, we would have written our own spells for a little while.

Activity Resources:
Spells program (by me): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/13899911/
Lumos/Nox Game: http://voices.yahoo.com/harry-potter-throw-fabulous-hufflepuff-slumber-455120.html
Transfiguration Challenge: http://summercampprogramdirector.com/harry-potter-camp-ideas-part-2-the-classes/
Rules of Dueling: http://summercampprogramdirector.com/harry-potter-camp-ideas-part-2-the-classes/
Spell Posters: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_YYwKCxFE1vTkdGOWhiUm5ZSnM/edit?usp=sharing
Transfiguration Dilemma: http://www.llemonade.com/hpgames.html
Boggart program (by me): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/13899767/
Patronus program (by me): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/3224227/
Dementor Freeze Tag: http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/harry_potter_parties_27.html OR http://www.llemonade.com/hpgames.html