Abra Cadabra! Our weekend at the end of half term was spent enjoying a spot of the wizarding world while on a sleepover. Want to find out what we got up to? Hop aboard the Hogwarts Express with us and let's go!
Firstly, we watched the old trailer for the original Harry Potter movie to set the scene. Then it was time to head into the Great Hall (ok, so it's 1st Lee on the Solent's Scout Hut but hey, we're acting the part!)
We set out the benches, green, red, blue and yellow, then each Squirrel and Beaver took turns being sorted by the Sorting Hat. Once sorted into their houses, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, they went to the relevant coloured bench to join their housemates.
Brian and Sam were sorted into Slytherin, Annalise and Squirrel Poppy were sorted into Gryffindor, Evelyn and Deborah were sorted into Ravenclaw and Beaver Poppy and Dulcie were sorted into Hufflepuff.
Our first class was craft. We decorated our school bags and created our own witch's hats. There were a lot of sequins and stickers and sparkles and it was great fun to show off our individuality.
1st Lee have access to the park right behind their hut by going through a gate by their entrance. We made full use of this by going outside for a run around before it got too dark. We played the standard game of compass points, except we changed it a little. Instead of running to a compass point, we ran to a Hogwarts house!
When we came back in we continued a little bit with finishing our craft creations, but those who had already completed theirs had a chance to use a prompt sheet to create a potion using the potions bottles on the windowsill. They had to name their potion and describe what it would do, then list the ingredients.
There was also the opportunity to create stories using the story cubes. Each side of each dice had an image on to help them think of the next line of their own story.
Up next was a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Joe from the Kent Falconry Centre. Via the magic of Zoom, we learned about the Harris Hawk, the Peregrine Falcon and the African Spotted Owl. The Peregrine was the most talkative but we didn't really hear any noise at all because every time they screeched, the microphone went quiet! Problem is, it meant we couldn't always hear Joe either! But either way, it was still very informative and we learned a lot!
There's definitely something magical about pizza! After the excitement of virtually meeting the birds of prey, it was time for dinner. Pizza, chips and sweetcorn, tomato sauce too for those that wanted it. Afterwards there was jelly for pudding.
Let's not forget that everyone has to wash their dinner things themselves. The incentive to get it done quickly was the prospect of the campfire afterwards!
With a touch of magic, we were able to make our campfire burn not just the normal orange and yellow, but also in purple, pink, blue and green as well. Occasionally we'd also hear fireworks with it being so near to Bonfire Night. We sang all sorts of songs including Campfire's Burning (naturally), I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor, B.I.N.G.O. and Ging Gang Goolie.
With all the exciting activities over, it was time for bed. Or at least, it was time to get into our sleeping bags and lie down. It's always far too exciting to go straight to sleep on a sleepover! But we soon settled down and fell asleep, ready for day two of wizardry.
The following morning, after a good night's sleep, it was time to get up and at it again! First there was breakfast, but then there were activities to do again, including making newspaper brooms, creating clouds in a jar and making owls.
Three activities were going on at once. Everyone was invited to create a newspaper broom. They used ten double page sheets of newspaper rolled into a long tube and stuck together. Then two sheets were put together and cut up the short length but not all the way to the top. These tasselled sheets were then stuck around the long tube to create the bristles on their brooms.
While they worked on the brooms, they were each called, two at a time, to do some science - creating a cloud in a jar!
This involved adding a little food dye to a small amount of boiled water (which was poured by the supervising leader). They then sprayed hairspray into the jar and quickly put the lid on to trap it inside. Next they placed ice cubes on top of the closed lid which caused the reaction.
As well as those two activities, they were also called over to create their own owl out of the foam shapes. When they finished each of the second two activities they'd return to their broomsticks until they completed them all, at which time they could return to creating their own potions and stories as they had been doing the day before, or they could indulge in a bit of colouring.
When everyone had finished all their activities, it was time to go back outside and test out our new broomsticks! We tried running around with them for a little while but the grass was camp and the brooms were made of thin newspaper so sadly they didn't last too long, but it was fun to try! (And of course, we did a quick litter pick of all the shed broomstick bristles we dropped!)
Time for potions. Using vanilla milkshake and food colouring, they then added various sweets to their potions, creating drinks for their parents to try at pick up time. There were some interesting combinations including jelly snakes, strawberry laces, foamy mushrooms and fruit pastels.
One of the favourite drinks in the Harry Potter stories is Butterbeer. This isn't an alcoholic drink, more a sweet and warming drink.
Of course, we can't make the magical butterbeer of the stories, but we can do our best to replicate it. Using cream soda, toffee sauce and cream, we were able to have a taste of Harry's favourite drink. (The recipe found stated butterscotch flavour sauce was required but we weren't able to find any. Most of us thought this tasted really good though... some of us didn't, but we all tried it!)
Finally, it was almost time to go home. The parents all arrived and it was time for them to try the potions we made! Most of them said they actually tasted a lot better than the strange colours made them believe they might, though there were a few exceptions.
The tasting wasn't the end of the sleepover though. There were a few more exciting moments left.
The best way to end any meeting or event, where we can, is by celebrating achievements. Naturally, it doesn't happen every week, but when it does, we love it! The end of our sleepover saw three special occurrences.
First up, our sleepover concluded on Hedgehog's birthday so we celebrated that by having some cake and singing to her.
Secondly, it's always a special time to invest a new member into our little pocket of the Scouting family. This time, it was Dulcie's turn. The group all saluted her as she made her promise in front of her mum and the other parents.
Finally, we handed out badges for Nights Away to everyone. Nights Away is a staged badge, meaning some of the group had their first stage for their first sleepover, while some had a higher number. Sam has the highest as he joined us from another group and is now a Beaver so he's had more opportunities than the others have who were new to Scouting when they joined us, but the stages go right up as far as 200 nights away because everyone from the youngest 4-year-old Squirrels, right up to the oldest 18-year-old Explorers.
The biggest badge achievement was for Evelyn who was awarded her certificate and badge for completing all the Squirrel badges! What an amazing effort!
So there we have it! An incredible weekend with so much crammed into it! As ever, don't forget to head over to our public Facebook page for more photos of the weekend, and if you haven't already, please sign up for email updates!
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