Badge: Harry Potter — House Crafts

You won’t want to use all these crafts, but pride in one’s house is very important at Hogwarts. A chosen unifying look amongst your participants might be one way to award points for the House Cup.

Steps

1. House pole.
Make a pole and stand that the kids can decorate in house colors or you can decorate before the event. This will give your house a place to meet up, rally around, etc.

Use a round, long doll rod with groves in the end to attach awards. You could use a flag pole and attach award ribbons at the top. Boy Scout troops do this with troop awards. Create a pole or brainstorm other ways you can track the progress of each house as they attempt to win the House Cup.

2. House banners.
To identify your house location, create a banner. Use a pre-made felt banner or create your own from scratch. You could incorporate the banner with your flag pole if you wish.

3. Capes or hats.
Instead of robes, make capes or hats. They are a lot cooler in hot weather and easier to move around in. All it needs to be is a simple circle of felt with a head area cut out and slit down the front. Allow kids to decorate their clothing in house colors.

If you’re planning an event where rain is possible, use black garbage bags instead of felt. Tie bags will easy to put on and take off. Decorate with markers and paints. Make sure you test this before having others do this craft as all colors and brands will not show up the same.

4. Scarves.
You can create scarves in a variety of ways. From cutting strips of felt in house colors and braiding them to loom knitting to crocheting, you can create a scarf to wear. Look through any patterns you have or on the Web to find a pattern you feel is appropriate for the age level / experience of your participants.

NOTE: Scarf design changed over the years in the movies. Find images of the scarves so you can see the difference.

5. Bandannas.
Hold a tie-dying session with bandannas in the house colors. Make additional ones in case any are lost. If you don’t have time to tie-dye, allow your participants a chance to decorate their bandannas. Brainstorm how your participants can use their house bandannas during your event.

6. Friendship bracelets.
Provide embroidery floss, yarn or similar fiber in house colors for friendship bracelets. Practice making bracelets so you can help those who have not made them before.

7. Lanyards.
Make lanyards in your house colors with fibers as in Step 6. You could also purchase blank white ones and use markers in the house colors to decorate them.

8. Tote or bag.
Totes, bags or another way to carry materials can be decorated by each participant. They will carry their materials during your event. Make sure you have a way to identify each participant’s bag beyond the house colors. Explore ways to do this while utilizing your house colors.

9. House crest.
Each person may like a house crest to decorate in the house colors. The Enrichment Project supplement SUPP_HPHC_House Crest.pdf has two blank templates you can use.

10. Iron-ons for shirts or bags.
For hotter events, explore ways to make iron-ons of house crests onto t-shirts. You might also want to do this on your tote / bag (Step 8).

11. Cheer on your team.
Perhaps you’d like a pendant on a stick with your house’s crest. Pom-poms for cheering? Brainstorm ways we show support for your sports team and create your own cheer items to use during active games such as Quidditch.

12. SWAPs.
Create SWAPs in house colors or based on your house. Explore ideas online or come up with some of your own. Unique SWAPs may be used for awards for winning the House Cup.

13. Use your imagination.
Don’t stop with these ideas. Explore other ways to identify your house and the students that go with that house.