My kids have a small (okay, large) obsession with all things Harry Potter. They have been saving their money to buy "real" wands for quite a while, but when a cute 15 year old from our church told them she would help them make their own for hardly any money at all, they were sold. I was skeptical, but I must say, they turned out to be really amazing, easy and inexpensive. They now make them almost every day, and it has kept them busy and happy for the first half of the summer.
Here is how she taught us, step by step.
1. Start with a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet of white paper. Roll it up from one corner to the other. You might want to roll it a bit tighter on one side and a little looser on the other, but it is up to you and your wand preference. My boys usually like the handle a little fatter than the top.
2. Place a dot of glue at the end to hold it together. Press to make sure it is tight.
3. Cut both pointed ends off each side of the wand, so they are straight.
4. Place the tip of the hot glue gun down about 1/2 an inch into the wand on one side and start filling it up to just past the top so you form a little bubble. The better you fill it, the more sturdy the wand will be. Then do the same on the other side. Let it dry.
5. Now the fun part! Figure out which wand you want to create. My boys were really serious in the beginning and created all their favorite character wands. After the first round though, they became less careful and more creative and just did what they enjoyed. They all turn out very cool.
6. Use the glue gun to create a fun pattern or copy a favorite character wand. This can be really time consuming if you are being careful or very fancy free if you prefer. If we are creating our own, we like to make the handle a bit more substantial and ornate and we use a lot of glue. It's always really cool to make it knobby on one end, and that takes A LOT of glue and quite a few layers. I have the glue guns that don't heat too hot so my kids can use them too. Be sure to pull away the extra glue strings if you want it to look nice.
7. Spray paint. This is the adult part. We love wands in the metallic colors like silver, gold, and bronze. It's also helpful to have black and brown or other foresty colors. We tried out an orange just for fun too. Not the same, but good to know you could make these in all different colors for fairy wands or something else for little girls if you wanted to. It seems to work best if you spray the entire wand one color, then use another color or two to highlight other parts of the wand or give it an ombre effect. Of course, if you are serious about your want making, you will want to copy the colors of your specific wand to the best of your ability.
8. Let it dry and you are all done! So much fun and SO SO easy and cheap. They will not hold up to serious warfare, but are perfect for casting innocent spells and pretend play (I am guessing you could make them stronger by using card stock or rolling the paper up over something sturdy). Hope you love them as much as we do!
Labels: favorite, good deals, Indoor Fun, Mom Stuff, summer, traditions
