Mythomagic

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mythomagicFancy a game half-blood?

In 2011, the Cotsen Library hosted a large-scale event called Princyclopedia. The whole event was based on The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion 2006). We had tables featuring art, architecture, science, engineering, nature, dyslexia, ADHD, myths, the Greek language, and the Socratic Method. We had a professional harpist, Greek hoplites in full battle armor, and blue chocolate chip cookies. We had giant live snakes (Medusa’s lair), Minotaur rides (an inflatable mechanical bull woo hoo!), and a 1,400 lb. ice sculpture carved to look like a temple in honor of Poseidon.

In addition to these activities (and a few more – check out the 2-page event map!) we wanted to bring the game Mythomagic to life.

From the start, we knew there was no way we could develop something as detailed as Nico’s version in the books. Because the event was going to be crowded (5,000 people attended) we didn’t want a game that would run too long. Finally, since a wide range of children would be attending the event (ages 4 -14) so we needed something that could be understood quickly and easily.

After some research, we decided to base our version on War, a card game that moves quickly, is based on winning via hierarchy, and can be played with multiple kids at once. In addition to the traditional labeling of the face cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack…) and suits (Hearts, Clubs, Spades, Diamonds) we added our own Greek labels and suits.

three cardsThe artwork for the cards was created by April Lee, a talented Princeton University student. Using art direction from Greek myths and the book series, she also added her own funky manga twist!

three more cardsHere’s a quick breakdown of the 32 cards in the deck. We made it smaller than a standard deck to keep the production costs down, and we kept the same characters on all the number cards to avoid asking April to make 12 more drawings on top of the original 20 drawings, plus the 4 suit borders, plus the design on the back of the card,  PLUS keeping up with her rigorous academic schedule!

Fire Suit:

  • Ace: Kronos
  • King: Apollo
  • Queen: Artemis
  • Jack: Achilles

Air Suit:

  • Ace: Ouranus
  • King: Zeus
  • Queen: Hera
  • Jack: Hercules

Water Suit:

  • Ace: Oceanus
  • King: Poseidon
  • Queen: Amphitrite
  • Jack: Theseus

Earth Suit:

  • Ace: Gaea
  • King: Hades
  • Queen: Persephone
  • Jack: Jason

Number cards (4 in each suit):

  • 5: Ladon
  • 4: Aegis
  • 3: Cerberus
  • 2: Ophiotaurus

Here’s a pdf of our Rules for Mythomagic.

We had the cards professionally printed, and – this really made the deck awesome – had the edges rounded like real playing cards. The results were fantastic. Best of all, the game lives on. I’ve brought Mythomagic out at a number of events and programs since. It’s always a hit.

A final shout out goes to the Princeton Public Library, who hosted the Mythomagic table at the event, playing it for 5 straight hours with the crowds. My hat (or helmet rather) is off to you!

princeton public libraryIf you’re looking for another Lightning Thief project, how about these simple pan pipes?

Pop Art

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pop artIt’s a fusion of form and function as a classic self-portrait is transformed into bubbly pop art. Don’t miss the gallery at the bottom of this post!

We read Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist, written by Ruth Spiro and illustrated by Thor Wickstrom (Dutton Juvenile, 2008). Everyone in Lester’s family (Frieda, Winslow, Cornell, Pablo, and Georgia) is an artist, but Lester just can’t seem to find his medium. Then one day, during a visit to Uncle Edgar’s studio, Lester discovers his amazing talent for creating art with pink bubble gum bubbles. Confidence growing, he decides to enter the art competition at his school. But disaster strikes when Lester loses a front tooth on the big day! Fortunately, recalling a bit of artistic wisdom, Lester is able to rally and produce the most tremendous bubble ever.

You’ll need:

  • 1/2 sheet of white poster board (approximately 14″ x 22″)
  • Multiple pieces of tagboard or brown poster board
  • 2 small pieces of white poster board (approximately 1″ x 1.5″)
  • Hole punch
  • 1 piece of yarn (approximately 10″)
  • A box cutter
  • A selection of multicultural construction paper
  • A selection of construction paper
  • 1 pink balloon
  • 1 pencil
  • Markers for decorating
  • Scissors, glue stick, tape, and hot glue for construction

The project begins with the creation of your portrait frame. We prepped the following tagboard (or brown poster board) pieces in advance:

frame piecesIf it helps, here are their approximate sizes:

Top piece: 3.5″ x 8.5″
Corner pieces: 3.5″ x 3.5″
Side pieces: 2″ x 14″
Bottom piece: 2″ x 8.5″

The frame pieces were laid out on top of the white poster board “canvas.” Then we encouraged the kids to customize the corners and sides by shaping them with their scissors. A corner, for example, could be shaped into something a little more delicate:

cornerAnd the sides could be given a bit of a curve:

frame sideThen, we invited the kids to select some “frame doodads” from a big pile to bulk up their frames. We were very proud of our doodad pile. Here are a few of our lovely choices:

various doodadsUse markers to create scrolls, lines, and shapes on your frame pieces (metallic Sharpie markers worked great too). Then use a glue stick to attach the pieces to the poster board canvas.

finished frameThe last step for the frame is adding your “hangers” (you can see them sticking out of the top of the frame in the image above). To create the hangers, take two small white poster board pieces, punch holes in them, and then hot glue them to the back of the canvas like this:

hangersKnot the ends of the yarn in each hole, and the frame is ready to hang. The only thing that’s missing, of course, is the portrait! Use the regular and multicultural construction paper to create a shirt, face and hair. Draw the facial features with markers. I brought out the Bling Bin for artistic embellishments as well.

Now all you need is bubble gum! Use the box cutter to cut a slit in the portrait’s mouth, then poke the pencil through the slit to enlarge it. The goal is to make a hole large enough for the mouth and neck of the balloon to go through.

Starting on the outside of the portrait (i.e. the finished side) push the mouth and neck of the balloon through the hole to the other side. Here’s what the back of your portrait should now look like:Stand behind the portrait and blow into the balloon. Your portrait will blow a bubble! You can also blow up the balloon, knot it, push it through hole in the portrait, and hang it on a wall to admire your work from afar.

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Worth the Splurge

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tape dispensor 1Exactly what are we looking at here? Perhaps this will help:

tape dispensor 2Still a bit strange? How about this?

tape dispensor 3That’s right. You’re looking at a tape dispenser with an attached tape drum. YES!

I don’t know about you, but for years I fought the tape dispenser drum battle. For some kids, ripping tape off a dispenser is not easy. They jerk the tape, causing the whole roll to fly out of the dispenser. Those nefarious drums would go missing too, chuckling gleefully in the shadows while we tried to rig up something with craft sticks or toothpicks shoved into bouncy balls. Inquires about “extra tape drums” were met with blank stares from office supply store clerks.

When I saw this in an office supply catalog in 2006, looking like a little DeLorean tape dispenser, I rejoiced.

reenactmentThen I ordered sixteen of them and never looked back. These dispensers are easy for kid to handle, there are no flying rolls of tape, no lost tape drums, and they are super easy to reload. You can get one from the Office Max catalog for $8.62. Absolutely worth the splurge!