Dungeon Maze.
- Any sort of a maze program will work. You could construct an indoor maze with large boxes that kids would have to crawl through, with trivia challenges along the way. Have older kids or teen volunteers construct the maze for your program.
- Set up a maze with different colors of paper "stones" taped to the floor. Kids would have to step from "stone" to "stone" - but only on the color they have been assigned - to get to the end. You could add a trivia component to this by making each contestant have to answer a trivia question correctly before they can move to the next stone.
- Set up a yarn maze in advance. Crisscross the yarn of different colors around the room at different heights and challenge the kids to reach the "end" of their assigned color. You could hide a reward - a piece of chocolate or a piece of cheese - at the end of the yarn.
- Use paper and pencil to have the kids construct their own paper maze. You could do this as a contest or have the kids come to do it for a program and then trade mazes to see if the kids can get through the maze that another child created.
- For examples of using mazes to illustrate math concepts, standards.nctm.org
Soup Program or Contest.
- While it's not really practical to try to make soup in the limited time available for the average library program, you could do a soup testing program, and perhaps have each child take home a bag with some of the ingredients needed to make soup at home!
- Heat up a variety of different types of soup and have the children vote on their favorite. Crock pots work well for keeping soups hot without having a stove handy.
- Do a "mystery" soup game (although you will need to check for food allergies and dietary restrictions first) where children are blindfolded and try to guess the soup they have tasted.
- Using various cookbooks, have the children try to list the ingredients of some different kinds of soups. Soups with unusual names, like mulligatawny, might be especially fun to try out.
- Turn the program into a contest. Have each family bring some of their favorite soup from home and do a "taste-off" and have each person vote for their favorite. Or have the kids submit recipes with a prize for the most unusual ingredients. These could be real soups that could be made or just imaginary soups - like candy soup!
Be a Knight.
- Stage a knightly tournament. Kids could make their own swords and shields and stage a mock tournament.
- Use swim "noodles" and have the kids joust at a target. Make it harder by having the kids "ride" a broomstick for a horse. Dip the end of the "lance" in flour first so that it will leave a mark on the target.
- Many jousting tournaments took place as part of a larger event in medieval times. Have the kids try their skills at mime or juggling, both of which might have been part of a medieval festival.
Coat of Arms Contest.
Challenge readers to design a new coat of arms for Despereaux, based on the story.
Portrait Contest.
Ask your budding artists to create a picture of one of the characters from the book. Give prizes in various categories, like most unusual medium, best group portrait, etc.
Costume Party.
Do a Reader's Theater of Despereaux or show the movie and have the kids come dressed as a character. Serve cheese, chocolate or even cups of soup! A script with a short play based on Despereaux that could be used as a Reader's Theater can be found in the September 2008 issue of Scholastic's Storyworks magazine. Or you can couple your costume party with a showing of the movie.
Lego Castle Building.
Have a castle building contest in the library. Ask the children to bring their own LEGOs. Have some extra on the side, just in case. Give them one hour to build a castle. You could display some of the finished products or take pictures and display the pictures in the library or on the library's website.
Castle Creating.
Don't have LEGOs? You can make castles out of recycled materials - cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, etc. Or use books like Castle Diary by Richard Platt to create blueprints of imaginary or historic castles.
Puppet Theater.
There are a number of fairy tales available already adapted for puppet shows. Have the children choose one, or pick any fairy tale. Children can make their own hand puppets and act out the show for younger kids.
Creative Dramatics.
Fairy tales can be easily acted out, using a minimum of props. You could add a twist to this by having kids invent alternate endings. Although this link is geared to creative dramatics in a classroom, it gives a useful step-by-step guide to help you working with any group of children.
Knight and Princess Party.
Find ideas for games, crafts and decorations for a complete knightly party.
Movie Premiere
Show the Despereaux movie. If you can set up a computer as well, show some of the YouTube clips of interviews with Kate DiCamillo will you serve after movie refreshments or make a quick mouse craft.
Craft Ideas.
- Mouse and Cheese Craft.
A simple craft with a mouse and a large piece of cheese made just from paper or card stock.
- Mouse Foam Visor.
Use craft foam and pom-poms to make this cute mouse hat.
- Story Connection Paper Mouse.
Although this is based on the Library Mouse book by Daniel Kirk, it would make a cute craft for Despereaux, with slightly larger ears!
- Make a "Chandelier".
Using hangers or paper towel rolls, hang yarn at various lengths with sparkly "jewels" hanging on the yarn. There are sticky backed jewels available at craft stores that you can attach to the yarn, dip the yarn in glue and roll in glitter or plastic sequins or a myriad of other options. Be creative!
- Balloon Mouse
Here are directions for making a mouse by twisting a balloon. This might be fun to actually try to teach the kids!
- Printable Despereaux Mask
In addition to masks, this site has a wealth of other activities including templates for finger puppets of the characters based on the movie. There are two different printable mazes and a printable Collect the Soup gameboard.
- Color Pages.
There are several Despereaux color pages on this website. Be sure to scroll down past the general links to get to the list of links for the Despereaux color pages.
- Paper Mache Knight's Shield
The directions call for Paper Mache, but you can make a similar one just using corrugated cardboard and paper.
- Knight's Costume
his site includes directions and links to make a knight's helmet and shield.
- Medieval Crafts.
This website, Book in Time, includes links to several medieval-themed crafts including several paper castles, chain mail, several crowns and jester hats. There is even a link to making a kid-safe archery game (using Velcro balls).
