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Halloween Harry Potter


target_English : Halloween Words
big_small : Small Groups

1. Split the kids into 3 groups
2. Two groups become Harry Potters and run away.
3. The other group become Voldemorts.
4. The Voldemorts hold up their hand and index finger in the air as a Wand. ( This lets everyone see who is a Voldemort).
5. The Voldemorts chase after the Harry Potters.
6. If the Voldemorts tag a Harry Potter, the Harry Potter freezes and the Voldemort casts a spell on them by saying one of the Halloween words from the song.
7. On the spot, the Harry Potter has to become this word, e.g. they mime a bat or mummy or vampire, whatever they have been cast with.
8. If a free Harry Potter says "hello" to a spellbound Harry Potter, and he/she can reply " I'm a" + the name of the word they are miming they become free and can run around.
9. If all the Harry Potters have become spellbound Voldemort has won and the World is doomed to darkness!

Also have a look at the normal Harry Potter game ( complete with video)


Readers' Comments

This was a lot of fun. One class actually changed the rules a little. Upon touching a Harry Potter, they said "Imperio", the curse for getting people do act the way you want them (unforgivable curse). Then they said "you are a..." There is no counter-curse listed for "Imperio" but as it means Command, the antonym would be revoke "Inducto" or oppose "oppono". These could be used as well.

Yet another class said that maybe instead of all being Voldemorts and Harry Potters, they be "Death Eaters" and the "Order of the Phoenix".

When introducing the activity to the teacher, I called it the Harry Potter version of Kori Oni (Freeze tag). Then everything went smoothly.

The biggest problem was getting kids to stop and say "Hello". Most cases, the kids did a running "Hello" without listening to the answer. This can be easily prevented by explaining that if this is done, you cannot be free. You must stop, say hello, listen to the response and then move. It is a vulnerable time, but it is the rules. Kids followed them

Space: I played this outside. We used half of a soccer field. the Death Eaters stand in the goal, while the Order stand at the midfield. When I said "Go" the Death Eaters, raise their fingers and take poses from the film. They are then on the attack. Also to differentiate groups, I had the Death eaters wear their Red/White hats as Red and the Order as White.

Time: I divided the class into a 10 minute Intro/explanation, and three 8 minute plays. The extra time was for a cool down, check of language usage and changing of roles.

Kids 4th grade and up can read Harry Potter in Japanese and do, so I recommend this for 4th grade and up. (4th grades came up with using "imperious", 6th graders came up with the team names.

Justin Dart







If you have a great idea please share it with everyone by submitting it to this page!
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