Outdoor Family Games

For Quidditch this week, the Hogwarts students have to play a new outdoor game as a family. Here are some of my student's favorite outdoor games. 

Spud: This outdoor game is a lot of fun. Every player gets a number and crowds around the person who is “it” for that round. “It” then tosses the ball straight up and the other players run away. As the ball reaches the top of its toss, “it” calls out the number of one of the other players and then runs away also. The player whose number was called must run back and catch the ball (or chase after it if it is bouncing around). Once that person has the ball, they yell, “Spud!” Then everyone else must freeze. The person with the ball must try to hit one of the players with the ball. If they do, that new person gets a letter (first S, then P, then U, then D) and is now “it.” If they miss, the person who threw the ball is “it” for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Playground ball.

Four Square: This ball game is played on a square court further divided into four smaller squares, numbered one through four. One player stands in each of the squares, with the highest ranked player in number one, lowest in number four. You bounce the ball among the players, bouncing once in the other person’s square before that person catches it. When I played this as a kid, we had countless additional rules to choose from. The person in square one got to choose the rules. Anyone who violates the rules will have to move down in the ranking, or be eliminated with another player rotating in to square four.
Number of Players: Four, unless you take turns.
Equipment: A four square court or sidewalk chalk, a playground ball.

Kick the Can: This game is a variation of tag and hide & seek. One person or a team of people are designated as “it” and a can is placed in the middle of the playing area. The other people run off and hide while the “it” covers his or her eyes and counts to a certain number. “It” then tries to find everyone. If a person is tagged by “it”, they go into a holding pen for captured players. If one of the un-captured players manages to kick the can, the captured players are released. The game is over once all the non-”it” players are in the holding pen.
Number of Players: Ideally at least three.
Equipment: A metal can.

Wall Ball

Materials

• Tennis ball
• Wall

Directions

This is a game for one or two players. The idea is to throw and catch the ball according to a sequence of tasks. When you miss, you lose your turn and have to start all over the next time. Here are some tasks:

• Meensies: Throw the ball and catch it before it bounces—10 times
• Onesies: Throw the ball and catch it after one bounce—9 times
• Clapsies: Throw the ball and clap hands before you catch it—8 times
• Kneesies: Throw the ball and touch your knees before catching it—7 times
• Twosies: Throw the ball and catch it after two bounces—6 times
• Under the knee: Lift your leg and throw the ball under the knee before catching it—5 times
• Highsies: Throw the ball as high as you can before catching it—4 times
• Touch the ground: Throw the ball and catch it after touching the ground—2 times
• Turn around: Throw the ball and catch it after turning completely around—1 time

Note: After going through the sequence without missing, go through again using the right hand only, then with the left hand only.

***Thanks to Geek Dad for these great instructions! 



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Natural Art Project

This week in Transfigurations, the Hogwarts students need to change natural objects into works of art. Here are some fun ideas I found on the Internet.

I love this ideas of taking a regular picture and adding natural objects to complete it! Have fun hunting for your natural items and transforming them into works of art. 

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Hogwarts Week 7 Results

The winner of the House Cup for Week 7 is..... Wait for it.....

I think it took Slytherin's win last week to motivate some of our Gryffindor students!

Check out some of the fun assignments that the students did for their classes this week.
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Last Hurrah of Summer QR Code Activity

It is August 1st and if you are like me you are thinking about back to school. Whether your kids start in a week and a half like my son or in three weeks like my daughter, you probably want to make the most of the time they have left. This is a QR Code Activity that I posted last year to help me plan one last hurrah! I wanted to spend the day with my kids doing those things that I knew we wouldn't have time to do once school starts. It was my way of sending  summer off in style.

This is the way that it works.
For every two hours during the day I have created QR Codes for two different activities to do as a family. The activities begin at 9 a.m. and end at 9 p.m. that night.
You choose one of the activities to do during each time frame (or you could do activities less often if you prefer. For example: 9 a.m. then again at 1:00 p.m. then 5:00 p.m. etc.)

Here are the choices (and the pictures for each choice.)

9:00 a.m.  Eating your favorite breakfast outside OR Going out to breakfast at a restaurant

11:00 a.m. Going to a park and having a picnic OR Packing your lunch and riding a bike somewhere fun to eat it

1:00 p.m. Swimming at the local pool OR Running through the sprinklers or having a water fight

3:00 p.m. Eating popsicles and reading a book OR Eating Ice Cream and watching a cartoon

5:00 p.m. Eating your favorite dinner on a blanket in the living room OR having a BBQ in the backyard

7:00 p.m Playing a board game OR Playing an active game as a family outside

9:00 p.m. Laying on a blanket and looking at the stars ORTelling scary stories with a flashlight on your face

Once you have chosen the activities that you want to do with your kids, you can play in one of two ways. 

#1 Just print out the QR Codes. 

This is the cheapest and easiest way to play, since the QR Codes are in black and white. Just cut out the QR Codes that you want to use. Put ONE in EACH envelope labeled with the time. Then hand the envelopes to your kids when they get up in the morning. They can use your smart phone, tablet or iPod to scan the QR codes with a QR code reader like QRAFTER PRO. This will tell them what activity they can do that hour. You won't believe their excitement as they wait for the picture to pop up on your phone! 

Then you are off and running, having fun until it is time to open the next envelope.

#2. If you don't have a smart phone, you can print out each of the pictures shown above. Then you can choose which activity that you want to do and put that picture in an envelope for your kids to open. Either way they will love to play with you and create memories of a fun summer day that will last all year long.

Print out the FREE QR Codes below:  

The Last Hurrah of Summer QR Codes

Print out the FREE Hourly Picture Activities below:  

The Last Hurrah of Summer PIctures Only

Enjoy having one last Hurrah of Summer with your Kids! Next week I will be posting a fun QR Code Activity I created for the first day of school. So come back soon. 

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Footprint Art

For Transfigurations this week the Hogwarts students have to put a little bit of paint on their feet and magically turn it into something amazing.
Check out these fun ideas I found on Pinterest to get your creative juices flowing!

I know it isn't Christmas yet, but this has to be my favorite! Where are some grandchildren when I need them?

Have fun putting those magic wands to work this week!)

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