Michelle Schraudner
Life Editor
Grab your wands and don your house colors, because Muggle Magic is returning to Pocatello. The second annual Harry Potter-themed educational event will be Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Idaho Museum of Natural History.
Attendees may just think they’re on the receiving end of a Cheering Charm after seeing the range of activities that museum staff and volunteers have to offer.
The open-house style event will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants are invited to come anytime during those hours.
Entrance is $3 for children and is free for their accompanying adults. Groups of adults who want to participate will be asked to make a donation, which will be used for work on the museum’s Science Discovery Center.
Upon entering, attendees will receive a booklet containing educational information and a “Marauder’s Map” of the museum. This will show where the different activities are located throughout the museum building.
“Potions is going to be chemistry, for example. So we take the idea of potions and the fantasy behind it and we’re teaching the real-world chemistry and potion-making on the muggle side,” said Kelly Pokorny, education resources coordinator for the museum.
A staff member dressed as Professor Sprout will teach Herbology, showing off the museum’s collection of plants.
Just like in Ollivander’s Wand Shop, Muggle Magic participants in the Herbology area will be paired with a wand of their own. After all, the wand chooses the wizard.
“They’re looking at the rings and the different classifications of wood and then they’re paired with a wand. So it’s kind of the whole Olivander’s shop but on the scientific scale,” said Pokorny.
Other activities will include The Black Lake, full of squids and sharks (but thankfully no dangerous grindylows), as well as myths of merpeople; Defense Against the Dark Arts, involving runes and code-breaking; and The Owlery, where new wizards will have the opportunity to examine owl pellets.
Over in the Mythical Creatures department, anthropologists (and perhaps Hagrid in disguise?) will discuss how the myths and legends of unicorns and griffins came to be. No actual unicorns or hippogriffs will be in attendance, however.
Shirts will be available for purchase for $15. This year’s shirts are Slytherin-themed but the brave at heart can buy last year’s Gryffindor shirts if they wish.
Pokorny said the event came to be after museum staff discussed taking a pop-culture phenomenon and turning it into a learning opportunity for community members.
“[Harry Potter] just seemed like something that was wide-arching and appealed to a lot of people,” she said. “We decided on that because we were able to take a lot of real science from it as well.”
In addition to the educational activities, the museum will provide butterbeer, chocolate frogs and face-painting. Hopefully the chocolate frogs won’t try to escape through windows, as they’ve been known to do on the Hogwarts Express.
Anyone who brings a canned good to donate will be entered into a raffle drawing for free entrance to the museum’s overnight spring event, Science Trek.
After having an afternoon of fun at the museum, Harry Potter fans may just wish they had a time-turner so they could repeat their adventure all over again.
Oh, and make sure to use your newfound skills for good, lest you get a Howler from Mrs. Weasley!
