Type: Active
Age: High school
Optimal size: 20+
Estimated cost: $51 - $100
Planning time: 2-5 hours
Frequency: One-time

Learning outcomes

At the end of the program, teens will...

• Learn about the history behind the alphabet.
• Learn about the history behind tasseography (tea leaves)

Instructions

Activities

Palm Reading-We printed information on how to read palms.  Simply do a Google search.

Tasseography (Tea Leaves)

Supplies Needed

• Tea cups & saucer (get the tea cups that taper).  If you don't have any tea cups ask staff. I bought all of mine from Goodwill/Salvation Army
• Tea pots. Once again ask staff or go to Goodwill/Salvation Army
• Tea
• Chart 1 | Chart 2
• Interpretation Website

History behind Tasseography

Instructions

Tasseography

Ancient Runes

Supplies Needed

• Velvet Pouch
• Wooden pieces
• Interpretation Chart
• Sharpies

Instructions

1. I learned about ancient runes from this Youtube channel.  I wrote down the moreinteresting bits of history and explained it during the beginning of the "class."
2. I put 13 runes and the chart in each velvet bag.  There are 24 symbols in the alphabet but I didn't want to spend that much on the wooden pieces.  If you do, I would suggest buying a bigger velvet pouch.
3. I told "students" to write their favorite symbols on the wooden pieces.  You could give everyone 12 pieces and have them write symbols on both sides.  This way they will get all the symbols. Technically, real ancient runes wouldn't do the double sided method.
4. "Students" put the runes back in the bag, hold the bag by the string, and knock the energy out of the bag.
5. They hold the bag in both hands and clear their minds.
6. The move the pieces around in the bag and ask their question out loud.
7. They take out one rune and answer their question but interpreting the rune using the chart.
8. Here's the video I watched to learn how to read runes. There are other ways to do runes but this way was the easiest to teach.
9. I had them read their neighbor's runes.

Harry Potter Trivia

I made a Kahoot quiz. Kahoot is an online trivia site.  Teens can use their cell phones to add the game pin to play along.  You may use my Kahoot quiz; it is a bit hard.

The tables were teams.  We have four people per table.

Snacks

I visited Mariano's ethnic foods section and purchased British chips, Jaffe Cakes, Sherbert Lemons and assorted candies, Crumpets, and Lemon Curd.  I made scones from a mix. We had hot tea and iced tea to drink.

Decorations

• Mini text books- We purchased mini notebooks and printing and glued the Divination book cover over them. Each "student" received a text book.
• 
• Feather Quill- We made them using an ink pen and duct tape.  Here's the instructions on how to make a feather with duct tape.  Each "student" received a
  quill.
• Electric candles (Dollar Store is a cheaper option). We put candles on each table.
• Crystal Ball-I spray painted left over DIY globes.  We hot glued them to wooden plaques.  We bought ours from Michaels for $1/ea.  We put a crystal ball in the center of each table.
• We covered each table with red and purple table cloths.
• We put shiny curtain over the door frames.

Prophecies

We wrote a prophecy for everyone and put them at each place setting. We made it so that five prophecies would come true during the party.  You may print and cut our prophecies.  The ones with the asterisk are the prophecies that will come true.

• One of the feather quills had yellow duct tape
• We drew a deathly hallows on the bottom of a saucer
• We put a square piece among the circle pieces in one of the ancient runes bags.  I purchased square and round wooden pieces but you can put a gem in the bag and change the prophecy.
• We put the final two at two different tables.  The odds of a loosing team is high.

The Party

• Upon arrival, "students" chose their seat and enjoyed snacks.
• We did palm reading first- 15 minutes
• We played trivia-20 minutes
• Ancient runes- 15 minutes
• Tea leaves-25 minutes
• We took snack and bathroom breaks between activities.
• We reminded "students" to check their prophecies to see if it came true.

Evaluation

• Reading the runes was a challenge. I'd recommend doing an example with a volunteer so that the teens know how to read the runes.
• The tea leaves were also a challenge to read and interpret. Once again, I'd recommend doing an example at the beginning of the "class." If you have a a large screen TV,  find and show a tea cup with leaves and do an interpretation as a group. If you don't have a TV, print out a picture of tea cup with leaves, pass them out, and have teens follow along as you interpret as a group.
• I would also suggest walking around as they read leaves and help them interpret.
• I was concerned that the teens would get bored with tea leave and the runes but they really enjoyed it and took their time with the interpretations.