HARRY POTTER ON A PLATE

HARRY'S PARTY
For those who have not read the books yet, Harry is a schoolboy who was orphaned as a baby when a wizard killed his parents - he escaped death but was left with a lightening scar on his forehead. He went to live with his uncle, aunt and cousin and had a very sad lift up until his 10th birthday. He received a letter then, inviting him to go to school at Hogwarts School of Magic.

COMING IN GAME
Platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station
To gain access to this platform you have to run as hard as you can towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. You must not show any fear and as you approach the point of no return, you are magically transposed onto platform 9 and three-quarters. The game should be organised from the outside of the Meeting Place, using the entrance as the barrier to the platforms, so that you can transform the inside of Headquarters into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Once inside, the girls have to find as many paper owls as they can around the Meeting Place.

ACTIVITIES
Owl Mail - Equipment 1 piece of white A4 or A5 paper, 1 candle, Powder paint, Water
Write a message on the paper using the candle instead of a pen. The paper will appear to be blank To read the message you will need a weak solution of power paint to wipe over the page. (In the HP Books, the owls fly in and give the mail to their owner - the mail is distributed at breakfast time.)
Owls - Make a paper owl or alternatively use biscuits or fairy cakes to make an owl's head .
School Equipment The standard equipment for a 1st year at Hogwarts is: 1 wand 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) 1 set of glass or crystal phials 1 telescope 1 set of brass scales. Have a base where these can be made.
Witch's Cauldron Make a black witch's cauldron and use jelly sweets to make spells in the cauldron (Halibro spooky sweets should be available at this time of year - they include frogs and spiders.)
Spells Who can make up the worst spell, eg a spell for removing warts from noses, a spell to stop Brown Owl/Captain/??? shouting and so on.
Gloop A really weird feely experience! Put a handful of cornflour onto a tray and mix with a little cold water. Now pick some up. It will be quite hard, but if you relax your hand it will run through your fingers like a liquid. You could add food colouring to the water for an even better effect.

GAMES
Poison - Equipment : Assortment of small sweets and a plate
Sit the girls in a circle. In the middle of the circle is a plate with a small number of sweets (5 or 6). One girl leaves the room. Another girl in the circle chooses one sweet that is poisoned by pointing to it. The 1st girl who is outside comes back into the room and picks up the sweets one by one. (I presume they eat the sweets.) When the girl picks up the poisoned sweet the others call out "Poison". Their turn is then over and you make up the number of sweets again and another girl goes out of the room.
Quidditch or Pass the Broomstick Girls stand in a circle. When the music is playing, a broomstick is passed around the circle. When the music stops, whoever is holding the broomstick is turned to stone and has to stand as still as a statue. Play continues until one wizard or witch is left. (In the HP books, Quidditch is a form of football/hockey played in the sky on broomsticks.)
Hagrid's Keys One girl is Hagrid. Hagrid is blindfolded and a bunch of keys are put besides them. On the command, "go", the other girls have to quietly approach Hagrid and steal the keys. (This game can also be done as a circle game, choosing one girl at a time.)

SPARKLE
Fancy dress: as wizards or witches.
Soft toy: Students at Hogwarts can bring with them an owl, a cat or a toad - or these could be made during the meeting - competition for the best owl, cat or toad.
1st years - not allowed to bring their own broomsticks!
Six / Patrol names - change the patrol or six names - there are 4 houses at Hogwarts - HUFFLEPUFF - RAVENCLAW - SLYTHERIN - GRYFFINDOR (latter is Harry's house.)

PROGRAMME ON A PLATE by Val Bright published in November's Scouting Magazine 2000 Some of the above activities are taken from "Let's Play Spooky Activities" by Brenda Smith, published by Printforce ISBN 0-948834-32-3. Other ideas from Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling and published by Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-3274-5 priced £5.99 Spotted and Typed by Brown Owl aka Ally Whittaker, Lancashire South county June 2001