This summer our art camp was focused around book 6: The Half Blood Prince.  63  young witches and wizards flew in for a week of creativity, magic, and mischief. We changed locations this year and it ended up bringing lots of fun and new possibilities! This blog post highlights the main activities and features student's art. Please visit the HP Camp 2019  Student Gallery to view more images of the wonderful creations and students hard at work. It was my pleasure to work with these awesome young people for a week in June. -Headmaster Ali LaRock

Ollivander's and Common Rooms...

Our new location provided us with so much space that each house was able to have their own common room! By answering trivia correct they were able to earn first pick at decorations. Soon every house had lots of items and began transfiguring their spaces. It was so exciting to watch!

Wandmaking We had a room set up like Ollivander's where students could find all the parts they needed to craft their own wands and wand boxes during the week. Peg People and Pygmy Puffs!  These were the two projects students seemed to really get into during the week: creating hand painted peg people characters and pygmy puffs!

Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, and Potions...

Students attended many classes during the week. They sculpted magical creatures, learned a bit about marimo moss balls for herbology, and had time for a quick potion lesson with Slughorn!

So Many Moments... Its hard to capture all the different things that spontaneously happened during the week. In addition to art making a lot of socializing, dueling, and mischief making took place.

D.A.D.A. 

Quidditch try outs and matches

Into the Cave and House Cup

Ravenclaw takes house cup again!

It was another great summer. As always we ran out of time on many things. We did have an end of term feast but it was rushed. The cave locket search took longer than expected but it was worth it! Please check out the 2019 HP Student Art Gallery for more pictures!

Sorting Ceremony, Start of Term Feast, and Wand making... Every year camp starts off the same:  Students get sorted and have  a chance to meet those in their house and have some snacks before starting on their wand making projects the first day. Every year the new wand designs amaze me!

Umbridge new D.A.D.A teacher! Boo!

Wands were created from chopsticks, wood turnings, polymer clay, acrylic paint, and embellishments. It was totally up to the student to decide how to design their wand and wand box if they chose to do one. Many projects were offered and students had a choice to do all projects or just ones that interested them. Once a project was introduced supplies were out all week so they could create when inspiration struck! Delores Umbridge introduces her "art project"-making kitten themed decorative plates and tea cups to match the ones in her office. Students were not amused. Ha well maybe just a little.

Death Eater Masks, Sign Posts, and Book Making

There were many projects offered inspired by the content of the 5th book. Students also had the freedom to create anything from the Harry Potter universe or beyond!

Trelawney, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology 

Divination Professor Sybil Trelawney visited students for a divination lesson. Soon after she was fired by Umbridge.

Students used polymer clay and other materials to create amazing art pieces based on magical creatures and magical plants.

Quidditch, Potions, and Battle at the Ministry of Magic.

Try outs were held and the houses competed in a Quidditch tournament. I believe Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup this year. See picture below.

Potion Making with Professor Snape is always the last project of the week. It's messy and fun. Students worked hard to create potions from the wizarding world or invent their own.

Department of Mysteries and the Hall of Prophecies... The D. A. and Order of the Phoenix met Deatheater's at the Ministry of Magic. The search for prophecies and battle began. (oh yeah we also made glowing prophecies as a project)

Do you remember why Bellatrix was so happy?

Molly Weasley doesn't. Accidental foreshadowing perhaps? Student's enjoyed dressing up and running around the department of mysteries.

End of Term Feast and the House Cup Ravenclaw wins the house cup! (sorry for the blurry photo) All students celebrated the end of term with a delicious feast prepared by them. Lots of creative dishes and lots of sugar!!

Another fun year! Thanks to my helpers Grace, Annabelle, Ben, and Hunter. Check out the HP 2018 Student Art Gallery for more pictures.

School of Creativity and Wizardry   This summer our art camp was focused around book 4: The Goblet of Fire (my favorite one!) 66 young witches and wizards flew in for a week of creativity, magic, and mischief. This blog post highlights the main activities and features student's art. Please visit the HP Camps 2017 student gallery to view more images of the wonderful creations and students hard at work. It was my pleasure to work with these awesome young people for a week in June. -Headmaster Ali LaRock

The Sorting Ceremony 
"It is our choices that show us who we are far more than our abilities"-Dumbledore

Students had the opportunity to choose which house fit them the best. Some opted to roll the house dice to see where they landed. Headmaster Ali calls out names while Deputy Headmistress Hannah works with the sorting hat as students come up to be sorted.

WANDMAKING "The wand chooses the wizard"  Students used wood turnings, chopsticks, polymer clay, paint, and more to craft their own wands. Some chose to only make one while others worked throughout the week on different types and sizes. Students also had the option of creating wandboxes if they wished.

There were of course many dueling matches throughout the week!

Many students saved their energy for games like ​Aurors vs. Dementors and the Quidditch World Cup Tournament! Slytherin Won the World Cup!  This image is from the Bismarck Tribune by Mike McCleary

The 'snitches' were released part way through each game.   Students connected with the element of earth during their herbology lesson. Each house is associated with an element: Hufflepuff is earth, Ravenclaw is air, Gryffindor is fire, and Slytherin is water. Students could craft their own plants from polymer clay and other materials and/or pot a live succulent. These succulents were purhased at Baldwin greenhouse. Loews also has a good selection as well as many local flower shops.

Herbology

Who knew most of the wand making pieces and hot glue would be used to make fidget spinners!

Creativity is Magic This is the over arching theme of the camp. It is a joy to watch what the students create. I offer projects but then allow students to take these in their own directions. It is truly transfiguration at it's finest! Here are some of the banners, care of magical creatures clay creations, spell books, weasley clocks and more! Again please visit the HP Camps 2017 student gallery to see more. Tri-Wizard Tournament Rita Skeeter showed up with her quick-quotes quill to interview the champions choosen from the Goblet of Fire.  Task One: Niffler Challenge. All students participated. The goal was to retrieve all the money buried on the grounds. Hufflepuff won this challenge. Good finders.  Task Two: Water Challenge-"Retrieve what belongs to you" This went awry and we couldn't in all fairness award a winner. So we redid this task with a riddle and the winner was: Slytherin. Delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang Arrive. Fleur Delacour, Madame Maxine, Igor Karkaroff, and Victor Krum arrived in support of this year's tournament.

"People Change ​in the Maze" Oh find The Cup if you can. But be very wary, you could just lose yourselves among the way" Only the 4 champions went through the maze. The goal was to find certain items and then proceed with the portkey to the graveyard scene. (Wormtail, that coat looks a lot like Krums!) They were individually timed. Congratulations Ravenclaw champion winner of task 3! Potions with Snape Students had a chance at remedial potions. Some created shiny glimmery potions while others brewed up dangerous and deathly drinks. Mischief Managed Students enjoyed doing their own things throughout the week. Some practiced spells, some enjoyed the common room, many stuck to the art projects, and others just liked hanging around other Harry Potter fans. Here are some images from throughout the week. The Leaving Feast  The week ends with the traditional leaving feast of sweet and....more sweets. Seriously next year I'm bringing some vegetables and cheese! Students went all out bringing delicious treats-many which were homemade or transformed to be magical themed. Parents even showed up with their Honey Dukes cotton candy machine!

​Hufflepuff Wins the House Cup!

WANDMAKING-Every young witch or wizard needs their own!

Students compete in getting "Aunt Marge" down.

Students create their own wands using wood, clay, paint, and other magical substances.  This years camp focused on the storyline from book 3-Prisoner of Azkaban. Many activities for the week and art projects were  inspired from this story.

Students catch a quick ride on the Knight Bus.

Use with Caution!  Monster Book of Monsters is a required textbook for year 3 Care of Magical Creatures. Some were found to be highly dangerous while others were just plain cute!

With all the projects students had the freedom to transfigure the materials however they wished. It was truly magical to see the variety of creations throughout the week. The book on the right was craftily created so it would open by stroking the spine. ​"Time is Making Fools of Us Again"-Albus Dumbledore There was so much to do at the School of Creativity and Wizardry we barely had a chance to squeeze it all in. Sadly no time turners were available so students managed their time the best they could. Some preferred to focus on the projects while others spent more time dueling or playing games and hanging out in the common room. To see more student work visit the student art gallery on my site here.

Buckbeak and Hippogriffs We had a special visit from Harry Potter riding 'Buckbeak' during the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Students also practiced bowing to the" school hippogriffs". Some were even able to get a ride on their back! They fondly named these hippogriffs  Beardbeak, Fartfeathers, and Gentlebeak.

Divination Class Using their specially designed crystal balls students were able to 'cast themselves into the beyond' with the zany Professor Trewlany. The visit to her classroom left some curious and buzzing with talk about the predictions she made.

Dementors and Defense Against the Dark Arts

With Sirius Black on the loose from Azakaban and Dementors stationed near the school, learning Defense Against the Dark  Arts is as important as ever! Professor Lupin taught the class the Ridiculus spell and eager students practiced on a boggart Lupin had captured in a box.  Sirius Black wasn't the only one with a mug shot from Azkaban. Check out the student gallery to see all the images from the Azkaban photo shoot.

Lupin in action-click to view

Quidditch and other Mischief Managed

Everyone was involved in Quidditch whether they were a seeker, keeper, chaser, beater, or "the rain"!  Projects Maxima So many magical creations. Students worked hard the last couple days to finish what they were most excited about. Wolfsbane Potion.... Students attended remedial potions with Professor Snape. He taught the class about the wolfsbane potion. Advances in potion making allow a werewolf to remain in his or her right mind when transforming if the wolfsbane potion is taken in time. Sadly Lupin forgot to take his and the consequences were quite scary for everyone around. The short clip below shows Lupin after he's transformed. He went into the bathroom because he wasn't feeling good and this is how he emerged. Students at work potion making

More fun was had with parachute games and obtaining signatures for the permission slips to Hogsmeade. Students were given just a few hours to get their parents signatures so they could go to 'Hogsmeade'. They could've just sent an owl but lucky for them help was there when they needed it. That's what I like about this camp, some of the stuff I don't even plan... it just happens.

The Leaving Feast and House Cup

Every year more delicious and even more magical treats show up for the leaving feast. This year people really outdid themselves-from homemade butterbeer, licorice wands, hand drawn chocolate frogs cards, a monster book of monsters cake and MUCH more! It was a sugar lovers dream. But that one lone tray of veggies someone brought sure tasted good after eating a plate of sweets!

HufflePuff Wins the House Cup!

The House Cup, Potions, and Leaving Feast

RavenClaw House Wins  The House Cup for the first time in years!!!   Congrats everyone!             Students competed for the house cup throughout the week earning points for answering trivia correctly, and good deeds. Any wrong doing or rule breaking lost them house points. The final day a student was taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Each house competed to find her and the magical items needed to do so and destroy the Basilisk. (Basilisk and student pictured on right)

Snape shows up to teach remedial potions. Surprisingly the class didn't turn out to be the regular bumbling fools he usually teaches. Students experimented and came up with some interesting results. The dungeon was a little bright and sunny for Snape's liking but all turned out fine in the end.

This Year's Leaving Feast Takes the Cake (dur dur dur)

Please check out the Harry Potter student art gallery here to see the wonderful creations students transfigured during the week.

Fantastic dessert after another magically appeared on Friday. The house elves really outdid themselves this year. From bertie botts beans to specially themed sweets and homemade butterbeer we all enjoyed a delicious feast to end a great week. Thank you to everyone who brought these fun treats. (There was so much sorry I couldn't feature them all on the blog) Thanks for another great year at the School of Creativity and Wizardry! I will see you next year in the shrieking shack! Bring the wolfsbane potion just in case.

Quills, Quidditch, Spell Books, and Creatures

Students learned the magical art of bookmaking as they created their own textbooks and spell books both in soft and handmade hardcover. There were lots of fun materials to choose from and it was excited to see how everyone transfigured their's uniquely! Quills were made and everyone received an inkwell and ink to practice with and have.

Once again Gilderoy Lockhart made an appearance and was available for a book signing for his newest book: Magical Me. Students lined up, some because they are fans and others just to have a laugh.

Thursday was a beautiful day for some outdoor Quidditch. Slytherdor took on Huffleclaw and won all three matches. The snitches were easily caught and students seemed to enjoy being outside the castle.  Since the storyline of this year's camp follows book 2, Chamber of Secrets, we also celebrated Valentine's Day on Thursday. Just like in the book it was Lockhart and a singing troll who sang to students and handed out valentines.  Many students asked where they could find these things to buy more:               Sculpey Clay-Hobby Lobby and Jo'Anns' Fabric. Ink Wells-Hobby Lobby or recycle any small glass bottle. Ink for inkwells-hobby lobby. Quill tips (also called lettering or pen nibs) can be purchased at Blick Art Materials online (actually you can find ink and clay there as well)

We also had a charms lessons in which students reviewed and learned many spells and charms. This came in handy for the dueling club that happened Thursday in the dungeon headed up by Gilderoy Lockhart and his "assistant" Professor Snape (who really ran the dueling club). Thursday was also Care of Magical Creatures. The houses earned points for their knowledge of the many characteristics of the wonderful creatures in the wizarding world. They were then able to scuplt creatures or any magical being or object of their choice with sculpey clay. Check out the student art gallery here. Creativity is Magic!

Mandrakes, Lockhart, Howlers and Filtch...

Today was a busy day! Students were able to attend both Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.            We studied madrakes and everyone worked on created and potting their own. Madrakes were made out of sculpey clay which a a type of polymer clay that can be baked hard in a regular oven and then painted or left as is.    Check out the student art gallery here for a full viewing of these fun creations!                  Watch this video of a student made Howler being opened.

In D.A.D.A. we were visited by the best-selling author and five time winner of the Witch's Weekly best smile award, Gilderoy Lockhart. He gave a rather uh interesting lesson and quiz. See video below. (sorry it's sideways for now....) By using the components that go in record-able greeting cards students were able to make their own howlers with actual talking messages that played when the howler was opened. I ordered these parts from Sound Expressions. It was fun to listen to everyone record! Today was also the Gryfinndor ghost Nearly Headless Nick's 500 anniversary of when he died. Ghost's in the Harry Potter world celebrate this occasion with a deathday party. We were lucky? enough to attend his party and participate in the headless hunt.

After walking back up from the deathday party (it was on the lower level of the castle) we noticed something strange. A sign and unconscious Mrs. Norris. Filch, the school custodian was beside himself as she is his beloved pet. She was petrified. The culprit has yet to be caught. We can only hope more attacks don't happen.

Sorting Students, Making Wands, and Magic....