In the wildly popular book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, the title character discovers he is not, in fact, a nerdy loner but a demi-god, the son of Poseidon. To help him develop his latent powers, he attends Camp Half Blood with a variety of other teenage demi-gods, where they learn to become the heroes hidden within themselves.
Do you have a rabid Percy Jackson fan at home? Create your very own Camp Half Blood for a party or just a fun no-school-day activity, complete with training in Greek mythology, monster lore, archery, sword fighting, combat training and more! This post will cover enough activities for an entire week of camp, so simply choose your favorites if you're planning a one-day event.
BEFORE CAMP STARTS
Send campers a message from the Big House, highlighting these points:
You’ve been identified as a half-blood by Dionysis and are invited to Camp Half Blood
You may have noticed attention or reading issues, which are in fact battlefield reflexes. Remember, your brain is hardwired to read ancient Greek.
Beware of monsters - they can find you by your smell
When you arrive, we’ll see if your godly parent claims you, and you’ll be assigned to a cabin
PREPARE AMBROSIA/NECTAR (SNACKS)
Plan to provide these between classes
Blueberries
Blue jelly beans & M&Ms (for Percy’s mom)
Bugles (minotaur horns)
Strawberries (from the camp farm)
ICEBREAKER ACTIVITIES
GOING ON A MONSTER HUNT GAME
This is like the game “I’m going camping and I’m bringing a …” Go around the table and have each camper say what they’re bringing on their monster hunt, alphabetically, and repeat the items that came before. For example, the first camper says “I’m going on a monster hunt and I’m bringing an Arrow.” The second camper says “I’m going on a monster hunt and I’m bringing a Battle Ax and an Arrow.” etc. Campers who forget an item are out. Keep going until there’s one winner.
COOPERATIVE MONSTER DRAWING
Take an 8x11 sheet of paper and fold it in thirds. Each person draws the head of a monster on the top third. Flip the top fold so it can’t be seen by the second person, then pass it to the person on your right. Each person then draws the torso of a monster, folds it so it can’t be seen, and passes the paper to the right again. Each now draws the legs & feet of a monster. Open up the papers and see what you’ve made!
GUESS THE HALF BLOOD
This game is played in a circle, and one person in the circle has to leave the room. The players then choose one person to be the Half Blood. The demigod then performs specific movements like snapping, stomping the ground, clapping, whistling, or making sword motions, and the other players will match these actions. The person who left the circle in the beginning, will come back in and try to guess who the Half Blood is by figuring out who everyone is copying.
MYTHOLOGY CLASSES
Choose a subject to learn together using these videos & links, then test your knowledge with an epic Olympian Family Feud game!
LEARN THE GREEK ALPHABET: Listen to the alphabet presented as a Daft Punk type song, then try to memorize it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUrZHF_WBeI
LEARN ABOUT THE 12 GODS OF OLYMPUS
All about the Olympians: https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/olympians/
LEARN GREEK MYTHS
Top 10 Greek myths: https://owlcation.com/humanities/top-10-greekmyths
LEARN ABOUT GREEK MONSTERS
Top 10 Greek monsters: https://classicalwisdom.com/mythology/monsters/top-ten-terrifying-monsters-greek-mythology/
OLYMPIAN FAMILY FEUD
Choose sides based on alliances between your godly parents
1. What was the home of the Greek Gods? (Mount Olympus)
2. Who gave Pandora her infamous box? (Zeus)
3. What was Achilles' weak spot? (heel)
4. Who led the Argonauts? (Jason)
5. The Greek Goddess of Wisdom was...? (Athena)
6. In the Odyssey, Circe turned Odysseus's men into? (swine)
7. The wand of Hermes is called? (the cadeuceus)
8. The Greek god of the wedding feast was named...? (hymen)
9. The Greek goddess of vengeance was...? (nemesis)
10. The king of Troy during the Trojan War was? (priam)
11. Which sneaker is named after the Greek goddess of victory? (Nike)
12. What Greek god was known for creating the horse? (Poseidon)
13. Who was cupbearer to the gods in Greek mythology? (Ganymede)
14. Who answered the Riddle of the Sphinx? (Oedipus)
15. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus is the god of what? (fire)
16. Who was Odysseus's wife? Penelope)
17. Who wrote 'The Iliad'? (Homer)
BUILD A BOARD GAME
Start with a large piece of poster board and create a game where demi-gods try to complete quests but run into obstacles along the way.
Draw a path like a maze on the large poster board, starting and ending with Camp Half Blood
Add good & bad events on the spaces (like “Ran out of ambrosia, go back 2 spaces” or “Stumbled into a waterbed store, pick up a Battle card”)
Create Battle and Quest cards. Players will choose these and do what they say
Test out your new game!
WRITE PERCY JACKSON FAN FICTION
You have 15 minutes to write a short story using one of these prompts:
What if Percy Jackson is actually a girl
What if Percy’s mom never married Gabe and the monsters found him at his house before he realized he was a demi-god?
What if Percy went to the beach and accidentally discovered he could manipulate water
What if Annabeth didn’t go on the quest with Percy, but Clarissa did
What if Grover’s shoes fell off at school and he was discovered to be a satyr
WEAPONS TRAINING
MAKE SWORDS
Decorate and name your sword (Percy’s sword is “Riptide,” Luke’s sword was “Backbiter.”)
Then learn about fencing from one of these videos:
MAKE SHIELDS
Start with a plastic gold tray from the Dollar Store. Paint and decorate it with monsters, or use some of the ideas here: https://simplepracticalbeautiful.com/how-to-make-a-shield/
MAKE FLYING SHOES
Luke gave Percy flying shoes before he went on his quest, and they came in quite handy for Grover when he battled various monsters. Follow these instructions, then set up a Greek Hopscotch design on your driveway with Greek letters instead of numbers and try out the shoes: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-superhero-winged-shoes/
MAKE ARMOR BRACELETS
Collect a whole pile of soda can tabs and make these cool elasticized bracelets that look armor-plated: https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/pop-tab-bracelet-15/versions/1
MAKE NECTAR BOTTLE NECKLACES
Follow these instructions to make mini bottle necklaces to keep your emergency supplies of nectar in (glitter water): https://makezine.com/2012/07/07/how-to_mini_bottle_necklaces/
MAKE MONSTERS & PRACTICE BATTLE
Draw the scariest monster you can think of, then fold up another piece of paper into a triangular "football" and practice shooting it at your monster.
CABIN ACTIVITIES
HEPHAESTUS: Make bead camper necklaces
Every camper at Camp Half Blood has a special leather cord necklace with beads on it for each year they come to camp. Follow these instructions to make Greek symbol-painted beads:https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/DIY-Jewelry-Tutorial-How-to-Handpaint-Beads-to-Make-a-Colorful-Statement-Necklace
ARES: Make Greek insult urns
Paint clay planter pots with black designs and copy one of these Greek insults onto it:
“Braccas meas vescimini” (Eat my pants)
ilithia or an ilithios (female/male “moron”)
“Pigaínete sta korákia”(go to the crows)
“As to thialo”(go to Hades)
Αχθος αρούρης (burden to earth)
ΡΩΠΟΠΕΡΠΕΡΗΘΡΑΣ a man who keeps on spewing nonsense
ΛΕΧΡΙΟΣ slimy
ὄλοιο, ὄλοισθε, may ye perish
APHRODITE: Make Cyclops origami
Follow these instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4MrHNpXInc
APOLLO: Learn to play Mr Brunner's favorite card game, Pinochle
GROUP GAMES
CAPTURE THE FLAG
PERCY JACKSON TRIVIA
1. Who is Annabeth's mother? (Athena)
2. Who is Clarisse's father? (Ares)
3. What sort of creature is Mr. Brunner? (centaur)
4. What sort of creature is Grover? (satyr)
5. Two words: What is the name of Percy's boarding school? (Yancy Academy)
6. The three old women Percy sees on the side of the road are actually the Three ________. (Fates)
7. How many Olympian gods are there? (12)
8. What type of tree is on top of Half Blood Hill? (pine)
9. What is Mr. D's full name? (Dionysus)
10. Who were the enemies that fought a major war with the Gods? (Titans)
11. What sort of animal head hangs above Ares' cabin? (boar)
12. Name one thing that Hermes is the god of. (travelers, thieves, merchants, roads)
13. Who is the wife of Zeus? (Hera)
14. What is the pattern on Mr. D's shirt? (tiger)
15. Where do Percy and his mother like to go on vacation? (Montauk)
16. Three words: according to Percy's mom, how did his dad disappear? (lost at sea)
17. Who is Dionysus' father? (Zeus)
18. What is Dionysus restricted from? (wine, alcohol)
19. What part of the Big House seems mysterious to Percy? (attic)
20. What does Percy use to defeat Clarisse when she tries to bully him? (toilets, plumbing)
21. What lives in the canoe lake? (Naiads)
22. Two words: Dionysus was grounded to Camp Half Blood because he was chasing a what? (wood nymph)
23. Aside from pinochle, what is another game Dionysus considers the greatest human achievement? (gladiator fighting or Pacman)
24. Two words: How did Percy's mother's parents die? (airplane crash)
25. What is Smelly Gabe's last name? (Ugliano)
26. What sort of creature tried to attack young Percy when he was taking a nap in daycare? (snake)
27. Who was Zeus' mother, who hid him from Cronos? (Rhea)
28. Chiron says the United States eagle is actually a symbol of who? (Zeus)
29. Chiron says there is a statue of what Greek mythological figure in Rockefeller Center? (Prometheus)
30. Who is the Greek lord of the dead? (Hades)
MYTHICAL QUESTS
Design a scavenger hunt with clues that sound like verse from a Greek oracle:
“Where the children prepare for battle, and all talk is of war,
Move red sticks above the fire, turn west and open the door.”
You may wish to encode your clues using Greek letters. One challenge might be called Vaporize The Math Teacher, and could require solving math problems.
Name the locations where the hunt items can be found using locations from the books, like Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.
Hide the following items for scavengers to find - they will need these for their final quest:
4 pearls
Golden drachmas (chocolate coins)
Red ball for Cerberus
Map to the Underworld
Hide a picture of Zeus' Lightning Bolt (or make one out of foam) and challenge the campers to find it as their last item. Require them to hand over the other items they found to pass various obstacles along the way.
FINAL CELEBRATION
Celebrate finding Zeus' lightning bolt by trying tastes of real Greek food like spanakopita, Greek olives, hummus, Koorabia cookies, or whatever else you can find in your local specialty market.
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