We are in full Harry Potter mode in my household these days. Sophie is reading the first book and officially *obsessed.* Which of course makes my little children’s librarian heart happy.
For her 8th birthday party we did a Harry Potter theme, and we decided to make wands as gifts for each attendee. I don’t think this craft project translates well to a library program because of the use of hot glue and spray paint, but if you wanted to make them ahead of time or simply for fun then this tutorial is for you!
What You Need
- Chopsticks
- Sandpaper
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Paint – Primer – Sealer – All in One Spray
- Sharpies (I used gold, metallic, black, and silver)
I live in Vancouver and order take-out sushi a lot, so I had a collection of wooden chopsticks that were perfect for this craft. I picked up the spray paint at my local Michael’s. I chose it because it does all three jobs in one and dries very quickly. I got the colour Root Beer.
Step-By-Step Guide
Begin by sanding down the chopsticks so kids don’t get splinters. Make sure to get the top edge – I rounded it off a bit to be safe. If you buy a pack of chopsticks online that are already smooth you can skip this step.
Once your chopsticks are splinter free, heat up your hot glue gun and get ready to create some wand patterns. There is no right way to do this – I did zigzags, knobs, stripes, swirls, etc. I tried to make each wand unique. Do not worry about imperfections – it will all be covered by spray paint! Sophie tried her hand at wand-making too, but it requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. Be forewarned , this does use a lot of glue. I think I used about one glue stick per wand.
The next step is to spray paint them. The kind I used is a paint, primer, and sealer all in one so I didn’t have to do multiple different coats. I put down a piece of cardboard to catch the mist. The more you spray the darker the coat, so you can do different variations of brown. I let these dry for about an hour just to be safe.
Once the wands are dry you can decorate! I bought a pack of gold, metallic, silver, and black sharpies at Michael’s and used them to add accent colours. Sophie and Jon enjoyed helping me make each wand special.
And that’s it! Once the sharpies dry they are good to go. At the birthday party I played Mr. Ollivander and had each kid come to my wand shop where their wand chose them. At the end of the party we used the wands to practice the spells from this spell book I printed for each child. Honestly I’m not sure who had more fun – me or the kids!
If you are looking for even more book character party ideas, don’t miss the round-up I continually update. So many great ideas to celebrate the stories in our lives.
We did something similar for a library program (8+ years) where we rolled paper into a skinny cone shape and used a glue stick to seal the paper down. This allowed us to add tissue paper in the end for the wand cores. Then we added the glue, and it did take a LOT of hot glue. At the program the kids painted the wands, and let them dry standing up in a box lid we had covered with holes (also used while the hot glue dried). It was a bit messy, and the kids got paint all over their hands, but they didn’t mind. The Sharpie markers would be easier and take less time to dry than paint.
I think I need to learn to embrace the mess 🙂 Thanks for sharing this alternate idea!
I’m so excited to use the for Harry Potter and as part of next summer’s reading program!
Thanks for sharing!
Hello Ladies, I am wondering how well your metallic Sharpie stayed on the hot glue once the wands were in the children’s hands? Did it wear off onto their hands some or not at all? I’m wondering if I should splurge for oil based sharpies for my summer program or if normal metallic Sharpies will cut it. Thanks!
Since I gave them out at a birthday party the kids had their wands for about an hour before they left. I didn’t notice any wearing off. I still have a few leftover that Sophie and I have played with and we’ve never had any of the sharpie come off on our hands either. The sharpie goes on the spray paint. I think if you let it dry for awhile before giving it to kids, then it should be fine!
We actually did a Harry Potter craft program at our library and the kids had a blast! I made the wands out of rolled up paper, sprayed sealant on them, did the hot glue designs ahead of time, and the kids got them and were able to paint them, then we made our own magical creatures out of clay, and had potions class where we made strawberry lemonade that fizzed (gave me a chance to sneak in some science about acids and bases). It never ceases to amaze me how popular Harry Potter continues to be for every generation. Love it!
Can I come to your library?! This sounds amazing. I’m doing a Harry Potter Party this summer and will definitely be stealing some of these ideas.
I love this craft! I actually just made these for a Harry Potter program I’m hosting in January. Mine look a little less traditional than yours, though. The only hot glue we had was glitter glue and it looked so pretty that I couldn’t bring myself to paint over the glue. I’m just hoping the kids that come to the program will still like my colorful wands as a prize!
Who doesn’t like some extra sparkle? 🙂 I’m sure they will be a hit!