A baby griffin needs lots of care, attention…and hamburgers! Luckily, our story time kids were more than up to the task. This cuddly companion was part of To Be Continued, our chapter book story time for kids ages 6-8.
Is that tufted tail making your heart melt? Details at the end of the post for how to win a baby griffin of your very own!
We read The Menagerie, written by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland (HarperCollins, 2013). When Logan and his broken-hearted father move to a remote town in Wyoming, Logan’s life gets considerably duller. Or does it? He soon discovers that the town is hiding a secret Menagerie filled with dragons, unicorns, and other mystical creatures. The Menagerie also has a BIG problem, as six griffin cubs have escaped, and need to be located and returned before the Menagerie itself is discovered. Logan and his new-found friends Zoe and Blue race against time, uncovering more then a few secrets along the way.
In the book, Logan and his friends track the baby griffins by spotting feathers they are molting. I hid these fantastic gold-tipped duck quill feathers around our gallery for the kids to find. Each kid needed to find at least two feathers.
Once all the feathers were located, the kids were awarded with stuffed baby griffins (purchased on Amazon)! Hoo boy, the kids were surprised and WAY excited! The loving attachment began immediately, and one little boy sent me multiple photos of his griffin Scorp, who, like another griffin in the book, had a serious hamburger addiction. Scorp also flew with him to Florida!
Would you like to receive a brand new baby griffin of your own? Simply e-mail danas@princeton.edu with the name you would pick for your griffin. We’ll put all the entries in a hat and draw a winner at random on Tuesday, June 16. Good luck!
A quiet forest appears empty. But gaze long enough and…a fox spirit will magically appear before your eyes! No, its not Photoshop or camera trickery. It’s a simple physical stage illusion called 
The L shape box is consists of two sections: a “forest section” and a “ghost section.”
Next, cut a small square (approximately 1.75″ x 1.75″) in the side of the box that faces the forest section. This is your viewfinder.
In the book, Arlo gazes through a slipknot, a loop of rope or lacing that allows him to see and travel multidimensionally. In order to replicate that rounded view, we slid a 2.25″ piece of toilet paper tube into the viewfinder as well.
Now draw a backdrop for the wall opposite the viewfinder. I had the kids decorate a pre-cut piece of paper or cardboard, then we glued it to the inside of the box.
Next, sketch a ghost on a piece of white card stock. Here’s my tribute to Fox, a spirit from the book (and my favorite character):
Tape the ghost in the ghost section of the Pepper’s Ghost box. Though you will probably need to do a little adjusting on the exact placement, try to arrange the ghost in the center of the section. I found this gave the best results.
Now for the magic! A Pepper’s Ghost illusion is essentially a reflection. For this model, the reflection is caused by a piece of glass or clear polystyrene set at a 45 degree angle in the junction of the L shaped box.
During my initial test, I used a piece of glass from a 4″ x 6″ picture frame. However, I was a little uncomfortable giving multiple 6-8 year-old kids pieces of glass to take home. Luckily, I found clear polystyrene sheets on Amazon (a set of ten, 8″ x 10″ sheets cost $15). Polystyrene is plastic, lighter weight, doesn’t shatter, and you can cut it down to size with a box cutter or scissors. Testing revealed that the reflection illusion works just as well with polystyrene as glass. Yay!
Then hinge a second square of cardboard over the ghost section. It’s important that this flap open and close. With the flap closed, the ghost will not appear through the viewfinder. But when you lift the flap, the ghost section will illuminate, causing a reflection to appear.
Ready to see the illusion in action? Close the flap and peer through the viewfinder. Keep gazing through the viewfinder, then lift the flap over the ghost section. Your ghost will magically appear! I also encouraged kids to stick their hands in the forest section and try to grab the ghost. Their fingers passed right through it, of course!
Next came a mysterious package tied with an old brass button (buttons have healing powers in Lundinor):
Inside the package was a yo-yo. That’s right. A yo-yo.
I bought these directly from Duncan’s website for $5 a pop. And because it’s currently Duncan’s 90th anniversary (wow!) they were 15% off and free shipping. The kids loved them, of course!