There were more witches and wizards wandering around the University of Guelph Saturday than you could shake a wand at.
The occasion was the second-annual Let's Talk Science School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a Harry Potter-themed event aimed at exposing the wonders of science to children of all ages.
Last year's event drew 700 people. This year's was expected to draw 3,000.
"We kind of want to make science as fun and exciting as possible for kids of all ages," said Alex Swirski, a PhD student at the U of G who coordinated Saturday's event.
"It's really it's just to get as much science literacy out to the community as we can and spark as much interested in science as we can," Swirski said.
"We want to make it really, really fun. Sometimes science is seen as scary, but if we can show children something they saw on Harry Potter, but it's actually just science, that makes it pretty exciting for them."
The event is aimed at pre-high school students, both boys and girls, and dressing up is encouraged.
"Sometimes the parents get more excited than the kids. The parents are stoked," Swirski said.
Let's Talk Science, is a national charitable organization active in many post-secondary institutions aimed at outreach and support aimed at youth development from as young as 3-years-old to Grade 12s.
Children and their families started their day at the U of G's Summerlee Science Complex by a "sorting hat" station to determine which "house" they were members of: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
They were then handed a "Marauders Map" and set off to explore 28 different mostly science-related activities, all given a Harry Potter tinge.
They included "care of magical creatures," "ghoul studies," "alchemy," "potions," and "magic theory."
"It's a lot of fun. We came last year and my son wanted to come back again," said Leanne Teller, who was sporting a witches hat as she wandered through the sessions.
"I think it's a pretty cool way of introducing kids to science and showing them it can be interesting and fun, especially younger kids," Teller said.
Over 25 volunteers helped put Saturday's event on.
