A multi-week activity: a student and I have been working on making “wizard scrolls”.
First we used teabags, coffee grounds, and brown markers to test which would make the best “aged paper” by staining them brown and crumpling them up, then letting them dry.
Next, we looked at our dried experiments and picked our favorite parchments. We found a “fancy handwriting font” and typed down some spell names, so that we could practice copying the letters in the “fancy” way.
Finally, we illustrated the parchment with some flourishes, rolled them up, and tied a knot on them to have completed wizard scrolls!
This was about 50% child led, following the child’s interests and ideas in general, with about 50% my input. I’m the one who brought in teabags and coffee grounds, although they suggested we also try brown markers to compare! They wanted to write spells; I suggested finding a fancy font to look like wizard handwriting — and to work on intentional letter formation, instead of just drawing the letters the automatic way that they typically form them. They helped cut the ribbon and I helped tie it.
Now the wizard scrolls are sitting in my “magic shop” imagination corner, next to some magic potions that I’ll hopefully post about soon…
