Artemis Fowl is a mortal boy, a criminal mastermind (age of 10 when the series begins) who discovers and learns how to exploit the world of Faerie Land. There are eight books in the popular series so far.
Artemis is at first an antihero but gradually gains dimension, complexity, and a moral code throughout the series.
Rob is reading one of these books to Quinn right now, and Otis is pretty hooked as well. Think: faeries, steam punk, urban magic, espionage, spying, blackmail (general unpleasantness for those too young to understand these worldly vices) other folkloric creatures (and monsters I'm guessing--but I have not read a word of this series!).
Seems like there should be a way to build an afternoon experience around this vein of pop culture. One idea is to have the boys roll D&D dice to create characters for themselves using book-related choices. They could make masks for their characters. No doubt there needs to be fight (with knives?) and a scavenger hunt. How will the pond be used? What costume bits do we all have to bring? Can this work?
15 comments:
I remember being really into these books too, the main narrative is told from a few perspectives and one is of this young-elf detective/cop who works for the secret fairy/magic world government to keep the magic world a secret.
I don't know if they'd be the super cool artemis kids and we would be the fairy cops theyre trying to catch/expose.
Lots of room for like scavenger hunt / magic puzzle kind of stuff.
Me and kelly will also totally be up for playing whatever characters we'll end up needing on the day too.
I recently came across my script from the last extravaganza, and could lend my expertise as a card holding fairy..
Super fun! We didn't get too far into the series, but I did really enjoy the first couple books. I'm wondering if there might be some way to pass on the capture the flag or midnight ghost tradition-- some super fun form of tag that still wears them out without having to brandish weapons? Just a thought-- I loved those dusk-into-darkness marathon tag games! :-)
Great idea. Not sure about the timing of doing that part at dusk, which is lovely and magical, but will coincide with a meal. Maybe that doesn't matter. Capture the flag can and should be daytime. Otis did an in the woods version at camp this week. Maybe we could utilize the woods a little bit for that and have it be the final challenge. Adults would need to commit--a couple at any rate. I'd be in.
I've got the old costume bag around somewhere if folks are seeking bits. Also bear in mind, Jaylin and crew are only staying to Monday.
Last night, Hayley and I spent some time brainstorming ideas for the AF adventure. Here's what we came up with:
Plot-- AF has been kidnapped, and the fairy legions must save him. The young genius' most recent mad plan to expand his incredible wealth was stealing the gold at the end of the rainbow. He did this successfully, but he did not anticipate the wrath and wiliness of the leprechaun queen. She hunted him down, but when she captured him, he had cleverly hidden the treasure. Now, it's up to the fairies and goblins to find the treasure and save AF.
Mechanics--given there are only five boys playing, it doesn't seem easy/wise to split them into teams. Rather, as in past years, the group will work as a single team to solve a series of treasure hunt riddles, each of which leads to a different challenge/game they must complete. Each one leads them a bit closer to discovering the location of the hidden treasure.
Games--looking in The New Games Book, we came up with the following possible challenges:
Dragon's tail: The kids and a collection of adults (we'll need about five adults) stand in a line. Each person puts their hands on the hips of the person in front of them. The person at the end of the line has a flag in their back pocket. The challenge is for the person at the front of the line to grab the flag, while the person at the back of the line tries to keep the flag.
Red handed: A group of people stand around one person. The person in the middle keeps her eyes closed as the group passes a marble between them. When the person opens her eyes, the group presents their closed fists. The person has to figure out where the marble is.
Smaug's Treasure: A person stands in the middle of a group. He has a flag between his feet. The group tries to steal the flag, but if they get tagged, they're frozen.
Heavy Cargo: The team must canoe across the pond and pick up a large adult. The large adult and the team must paddle across the pond without getting tipped over. (Not from the New Games Book, but obviously we need a pond-based adventure).
Riddle Game: The treasure was given to a troll who lives under the PH bridge. As a final challenge, the group must answer a series of Hobbit-like riddles.
Cast: AF-Avery, Leprechaun Queen-Kelly, Smaug-William, Troll-Peter, Heavy Cargo-Mark...
To do: Come up with a storyline that connects these challenges, along with a series of clues that gets the group from the beginning to the end...
Love the evolution of the story and all of the challenges. I'd vote for the heavy cargo and riddle game!
this all seems so great. i'm in the middle of camp and a bit overwhelmed. i can bring some dress up stuff - i can also get my hands on a bunch of fake big gems. max LOVes riddles all of this sounds wonderful. thanks to all for these great ideas. Can anyone bring the first book for max to read?
I was thinking to create a scroll with a special alphabet and a small translation guide for each kiddo. Perhaps the scavenger hunt could include written clues that the kids have to translate so they can find additional clues to the gold!?? Thoughts?
do we know what day this is heppinging on the weekend? sat/ sun/ mon? i'm digging around for supplies etc
Thinking of having this be on Sunday, unless something comes up that makes Sat. feel like the better choice. Jaylin & kids are leaving Monday, so we need to do it before then. I like the code idea, Jo: give them something to spend a little time on. I just made a map of the property for them to use, too. Figure we can put activities/dangers on it with post-its to keep the activities flexible.
Sunday works best for us. My schedule prevents us from arriving until late Saturday afternoon.
I really like the code idea! A big part of the Artemis storyline is that he acquires a copy of the fairy Book, which is written in gnommish, and Artemis has to crack the code to learn the secrets of the fairy people.
I have a bag of sponge based star "water balloon" replacements that are easier for little kids to use that I will bring....that don't leave latex scraps all oer for us to pick up. think star shaped sponges that just need to be resoaked to be effective again, not a new balloon to be filled.
Great! i'm glad we can do it on a day that cole and alden can be there, as well as the others.if posible, I'd vote for early/mid afternoon so there is time to prep for tuscan feast in the late afternoon- early eve. looking fw!!
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