The Mythical Creatures

Meet all of our mythical creatures. Click the Challenge links under each creature for full details about what to do to earn their trading card.

Children's cards

Fairies

Fairies are magical beings from European folklore, who live in forests, gardens and meadows. They are known for their magic and playful tricks, helping or confusing travellers and they can make themselves invisible. They love music and dancing in the moonlight.

Challenge 1 Go on a bush walk

Gnome

Gnomes are small, magical creatures living underground or in gardens. Known for pointy hats and long beards, they love nature, guard treasures and help plants grow. Popular in garden statues and stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia, they symbolize mystery and charm.

Challenge 2 Visit Stems on Apotu Flower Farm

Dragon

Dragons, famed for fire-breathing and treasure hoarding, dwell in caves or mountains. Often magical, they speak human languages and cast spells. Believed to live millennia, dragons feature in stories such as Smaug from The Hobbit, a cunning, gold-hoarding creature.

Challenge 3 Visit Lake Waro in Hikurangi

Mermaid

Mermaids dwell in oceans, lakes and deep seas near rocky shores. Known for enchanting songs, they control currents and predict storms. Legends say they grant wishes if trusted. Many cultures view them as omens of good fortune or disaster.

Challenge 4 Visit a Beach

Griffin

Griffins, from Greek mythology, have a lion’s body and an eagle’s head and wings. Fierce protectors, they guard treasures and gems in mountains and deserts, never letting thieves escape. Legends say they can fly for days without rest.

Challenge 5 Visit a Playground

Vampire

Vampires survive by drinking blood and often appear as pale humans with sharp fangs. They avoid sunlight, sleep in coffins, and fear garlic or holy symbols. Able to transform into bats and live forever, the most famous is Count Dracula from Bram Stoker’s novel.

Challenge 6 Make a Treat that a Mythical Creature Would Enjoy

Basilisk

The Basilisk, called the ‘King of Serpents,’ is a legendary creature with deadly powers, able to kill with a single glance. Tales say its breath withers plants and poisons water. The giant snake in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was a Basilisk.

Challenge 7 Visit the Kamo Library

Cerberus

Cerberus, is a fearsome giant dog from Greek myths that guards the gates of the Underworld. Famous for its three heads, each watching in every direction, it blocks intruders and prevents escape. Fun fact: Fluffy from Harry Potter was inspired by Cerberus.

Challenge 8 Visit the Onerahi Library

Centaur

Centaurs roam forests and plains, famed for strength and archery. Guardians of sacred sites, they’re revered for wisdom. Ancient Greeks believed they read stars like astrologers. Myths depict them as fierce warriors, yet some tales show them as healers and teachers.

Challenge 9 Visit the Tikipunga Library

Alicanto

Alicantos, magical birds of Chile’s deserts and mountains, glow with radiant feathers and guide seekers to gold and silver. Legends say they never drink water, feed on precious metals to keep their brilliance and vanish if followed too closely.

Challenge 10 Visit Whangārei Central Library

Cyclops

The Cyclops is a colossal giant with one eye in his forehead from Greek mythology, known for strength and weapon-making. Often depicted living in mountains or forging arms for gods, the Cyclops symbolise power and craftsmanship in ancient myths.

Challenge 11 Visit one of the Community Libraries

Phoenix

The Phoenix, famed for the magical healing powers of its tears and fiery feathers, bursts into flames at death and is reborn from ashes. Legends say it sings a beautiful song before it burns. Did you know Fawkes, Dumbledore’s loyal companion in Harry Potter, is a Phoenix?

Challenge 12 Mythical Creature Inspired Science Experiment

Hippogriff

Hippogriffs, swift and loyal to those who earn their trust, nest on mountain cliffs and soar across skies. They can cover vast distances in a day, making them a great mode of transport. Legends say they sense danger early and warn their riders.

Challenge 13 Make a Mythical Creature Diorama Scene

Roc

The Roc, a gigantic bird from Middle Eastern legends, is said to be strong enough to lift elephants in its talons. The Roc fiercely guards its eggs, attacking anyone who come too close to its nest. It appears in the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, soaring over deserts and seas.

Challenge 14 Love LEGO?

Will-o'-the-Wisp

Will-o’-the-Wisps glow like flickering lights in marshes and forests at night, luring travellers off their paths with mysterious dances. Some tales say these ghostly lights guard treasures hidden deep in swamps and they vanish if you try to catch them.

Challenge 15 Mythical Creature Book or Movie Review

Sasquatch

Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, is said to roam remote forests and snowy mountains. Known for massive footprints and great strength, these shy giants avoid humans. Legends claim they communicate by knocking on trees and making loud, echoing calls deep in the wilderness.

Challenge 16 Keep a Reading Log Over Summer

Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster, or 'Nessie,' is a legendary creature said to live in Scotland’s Loch Ness. Often described as a long-necked, plesiosaur-like animal, it’s been sighted for centuries without proof. People still search for Nessie, making it one of the world’s most famous mysteries.

Challenge 17 Create a Musical Playlist for a Wordless Picture Book

Mountain Troll

Mountain Trolls live in dark caves high in the mountains, famed for immense strength and stubbornness. They guard hidden treasures and shun sunlight, which turns them to stone. Legends say trolls set clever traps for travelers and can smell gold from far away.

Challenge 18 Find Mythical Creature Facts

Werewolf

Werewolves are humans who magically transform into wolves during a full moon. They possess sharp senses and incredible strength. Legends say they roam forests at night, avoid silver because it weakens them and a bite from one can turn an ordinary person into a Werewolf.

Challenge 19 Dice Roll a Mythical Creature

Unicorn

Unicorns live in enchanted forests and are famed for kindness and magical beauty. Their horn can heal sickness and purify water. In medieval times, it was believed they could detect poison. Some tales claim they run so fast they leave a sparkling light trail behind them.

Challenge 20 Create a Mythical Creature Mask

Tween and Teen cards

Siren

Sirens are enchanting sea beings from Greek mythology, known for their irresistible songs that lure sailors to peril. Often depicted as part woman, part bird or fish, they symbolize temptation and danger.

Challenge 21 Create Blackout Poetry

Kraken

The Kraken is a legendary sea monster from Scandinavian folklore, often depicted as a colossal squid-like creature capable of dragging ships underwater. Sailors claimed it lurked in deep seas, rising to the surface to attack vessels with massive tentacles or to create deadly whirlpools.

Challenge 22 Cook a Recipe from a Teen Book

Sphinx

The Sphinx is a majestic guardian from Egyptian and Greek mythology, combining a lion’s body with a human head. Known for posing riddles to travellers, it represents wisdom and mystery. Failure to answer correctly often meant death, making the Sphinx a symbol of intellect and perilous challenge.

Challenge 23 Bookmark Review

Dryad

Dryads are gentle Greek tree spirits linked to forests and nature. Shy but protective, they inhabit and guard trees such as oak or ash. They symbolise harmony with the natural world, embodying beauty, growth and the delicate balance between humanity and wilderness in their mythic realm.

Challenge 24 Make Art from Natural Materials

Kitsune

Kitsune are mystical fox spirits in Japanese folklore, known for intelligence and powerful magic. Able to shape-shift, often into elegant women, their number of tails and powers increase with age. Kitsune embody cunning, protection and trickery, acting as helpful guardians and mischievous tricksters.

Challenge 25 Bookface

Kelpie

The Kelpie is a shape-shifting water spirit from Scottish legend, usually appearing as a beautiful horse. It lures riders onto its back, then plunges into rivers to drown them. Symbolising the treacherous allure of nature, Kelpies embody danger hidden beneath beauty in wild waters.

Challenge 26 Make a Zine

Selkie

Selkies are seal-like beings from Celtic folklore, capable of shedding their skins to become human. They live in the sea but sometimes marry humans, though they always yearn to return to the waves. Selkies represent longing, transformation and the tension between freedom and love.

Challenge 27 Book Spine Poetry

Jinn

Jinn are supernatural beings of flame or air capable of assuming various forms, human or animal, from Arabian, Islamic and Middle Eastern folklore. They are said to dwell in all conceivable inanimate objects such as stones, trees, ruins or underneath the earth, in the air and in fire.

Challenge 28 Visit a Lilliput Library

Taniwha

Taniwha are powerful water-dwelling guardians from Māori tradition, often inhabiting rivers, lakes or seas. They can appear monstrous and reptile-like, as sea creatures or as a part of the natural environment protecting īwi and hapū or punishing wrongdoing.

Challenge 29 Upcycle Craft

Patupaiarehe

In the misty mountain tops or deep in the forests lived the Patupaiarehe – fairy-like beings who were seldom seen. Pale-skinned and elusive, they avoid sunlight and human contact, often luring travellers astray with enchanting flute music. They had magical powers and special knowledge.

Challenge 30 Visit Craft Day