3rd Grade Book Club for Boys
We used Percy Jackson’s The Lightning Thief graphic novel for a book club for boys. I had big plans initially. Blue food. Lots of indoor games. Duct tape crafts.
When the book club rolled around though, I was tired with low energy so I ended up doing a very low-key book club. No blue food. Spaghetti and meatballs were delivered instead.
The first thing we did was break out the duct tape that I had purchased at Staples a few weeks ago and squirreled away. I had a new roll of heavy-duty aluminum foil, tape, copy paper, and scissors.
When my kids made duct tape swords a while ago, the girls carefully made forms from copy paper and tape and then covered them in duct tape. They were surprisingly sturdy!
The boys eschewed copy paper for the foil. They managed to use an entire roll. They seemed to prefer sculpting their weaponry from the foil, crushing and molding it until they got it just right. Then, they covered the foil in duct tape.
The black duct tape came in a huge roll. I should have bought grey duct tape from Home Depot too because you can get huge rolls quite inexpensively and use it as the first layer around the foil.
The camo duct tape from Duck Tape was very popular! Dagger and sword sets were also de rigueur.
While we constructed the swords, I asked the boys — a captive audience — Percy Jackson trivia questions that I found on the Scholastic site.
1. Who is Annabeth’s mother? Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.
2. Who is Clarisse’s father? Ares, the God of War.
3. What sort of creature is Mr. Brunner? Centaur, half-horse/ half-human.
4. What sort of creature is Grover? Satyr, half-goat/half-human.
5. Two words: What is the name of Percy’s boarding school? Yancy Academy
6. How many Olympian gods are there? 12
7. What type of tree is on top of Half-Blood Hill? Pine tree
8. What is Mr. D’s full name? Dionysus, God of Wine
9. What sort of animal head hangs above Ares’ cabin? Boar
10. Name one thing that Hermes is the god of. Thieves. Also messenger god.
11. Who is the wife of Zeus? Hera
12. What is the pattern on Mr. D’s shirt? Tiger stripes
13. Where do Percy and his mother like to go on vacation? Montauk on Long Island.
14. Three words: according to Percy’s mom, how did his dad disappear? Lost at sea.
15. Who is Dionysus’ father? Zeus
16. What is Dionysus restricted from? He can’t drink wine or any other kind of alcohol for 100 years.
17. What part of the Big House seems mysterious to Percy? Attic
18. What does Percy use to defeat Clarisse when she tries to bully him? Water from the toilets.
19. What lives in the canoe lake? Naiads
20. Aside from pinochle, what is another game Dionysus considers the greatest human achievement? Pac-Man
21. What is Smelly Gabe’s last name? Ugliano
22. What sort of creature tried to attack young Percy when he was taking a nap in daycare?Snake
23. Who was Zeus’ mother, who hid him from Kronos? Rhea
24. Chiron says there is a statue of what Greek mythological figure in Rockefeller Center?Prometheus
25. Who is the Greek lord of the dead? Hades
Surprisingly, no one seemed to mind the trivia. In fact, they actually liked it. Even the boy who didn’t read the book!
I had planned some indoor active games like Medusa Freeze Tag but I shouldn’t have bothered. The boys had their own ideas of how to stay active.
All in all, the book club was a success, and fun was had by all. I heard that after the boys went home, they continued the duct tape crafts by making shields as well as more weapons. Next time I’ll have cardboard cut out for shields.
My advice for a Percy Jackson book club for little boys is not to get too fancy. The boys were perfectly happy with duct tape, spaghetti, and trivia. In fact, they could have used more time for the craft had the aluminum foil held out. Note to self: next time, two rolls of foil!
As for the sword fighting … well, it IS part of the story! And luckily no one got hurt!
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3) byRick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief, The Graphic Novel
Click on image of book to view at Amazon or here for Barnes and Noble.
Thank you to Here Comes the Girls Blog for featuring this post on The Sunday Showcase!
To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Wow. You are so lucky . I had my last birthday “PJ” themed but I was recovery from surgery so the good events were cancelled. Wish I could have gone to yours. It looks fantastic . You put a lot if effort in and it looked great.
Hi Alicia,
I hope you are feeling better after your surgery! Thanks so much! The book club was fun and it ended up being pretty easy to do. Just lots of aluminum foil and duct tape!
Maybe we can play Medusa freeze tag if I ever get to meet you IRL; that sounds fun…. so does this book club. Good thinking to throw out the trivia while they’re absorbed in sword-making!
Hi Jeanette,
That would be fun! Tag, you’re it!
I really enjoyed this post. We jabber not gotten into Percy Jackson yet, but we’re going to start after getting these great ideas! Thanks!
Thanks Shifra!
Shame about the Medusa tag, it sounds like fun. But I totally agree about needing to be guided by the kids – weapons and sword fights are so exciting! I’ll bet that’s one book the boy club guys never forget!
Thanks Susan,
I was happy that it got all the boys to read the Percy Jackson graphic novel, even the kid who said he hates this series!
Sounds great! If I weren’t leading scouts, I’d love to try something like this. Swords are always a big hit. We have that camo duct tape, only Dylan sees it at Minecraft tape!
Hi Dee,
That camo duct tape is popular, isn’t it? I should have gotten a few more rolls. It’s amazing how fast they can use up that stuff!
oh looks fun! Seems boys of this age don’t need much structured play anymore. We had a birthday party last year, I had activities planed, but they went on play their self-invented games. Like the trivia questions. I will try some on my son.
Hi iGameMom,
I always worry about keeping the boys entertained at the book clubs but I guess I should give them more free play time. They are good about inventing games and I’m just glad that no one got hurt! LOL!
My son would LOVE this! I find that I plan activities for birthday parties, and the kids have their own ideas of how to have fun!
Hi MaryAnne,
It is fun to create swords from duct tape and so far, no injuries! 🙂
Just popping over to say I’ve featured this on the Sunday Showcase this week
Thanks so much for featuring this on your Sunday Showcase! I’ll hop over to send it some social media love!