Do you have a hankering for wizarding powers? Do you love to learn about potions? What would be your favourite class at Hogwarts? What magical objects would you like to own?
If your child loves everything Harry Potter and would relish themed learning activities, check out our list of magical fun that will inspire any Harry, Ron or Hermione fan!
Perhaps the place to start is whittling your own wand. Forest Craft is a great guide for children to get started. Alternatively, follow the instructions here to make a wand out of paper and a glue gun. What design will you create to reflect your personality? Check out some of Harry Potter character’s wand designs. Here you can find out more about wands and their properties.
How about using your creativity to draw and write a new spell? What does it do and what is its name it in Latin? See The Etymology of Spells on the Wizarding World website for inspiration.
A popular favourite class at Hogwarts is Potions. You could have a go at making your own potions, which could be slime or using kitchen-table chemistry, something like Fizzy Lemonade or Radiant Rainbows. You could also try creating colour-changing potions, making themed labels for the ingredients such as unicorn tears for the vinegar and crushed mandrake for the bicarbonate of soda.
Join Professors Sprout and Longbottom, dig out your dragon-hide gloves for a Herbology class! You could grow mandrakes (turnips – early ones can be planted now) or Screechsnap (snapdragons can also be planted now).
Perhaps you’d like to join Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest for the optional subject Care of Magical Creatures? Try making a nest in your garden for a baby hippogriff using small sticks and twigs, weeds, and household items such as cushions (that you don’t mind getting dirty) or packaging. Learn more about hippogriffs and their care.
Love the game of Quidditch? Read about the rules here. Find out about how it has become a popular sport in the real world and find out about real life rules here. You could create an obstacle course in your garden or living room to play quidditch, make a model of a golden snitch or a quidditch match.
Use your artistic talent to recreate part of the stories. What part of the stories inspire you to draw, paint, model or create? You could draw a picture of the Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts itself. Are you interested in Magizoology and would like to recreate a magical creature? Or perhaps you’d prefer to imagine a magical object – many objects are on this free poster?
Have a go at making your own Top Trumps cards based on the characters in the Harry Potter stories and rate them for magical ability, friendliness, intelligence, etc. Here are some instructions and here is a free template you can use.
If you enjoy Geography, you might look up the places JK Rowling used to inspire both character names and places in the books. This is a good place to start and here you can see details about some of the places in the books.
Get creative by changing part of the storyline in the books/films. For example, ask what might have been different if Harry had been in Slytherin house? What if Voldemort had been good and Dumbledore evil? What if Hagrid had been tiny instead of huge? What would have been different if Harry’s parents had still been alive? This would make for a fun conversation but could also inspire you to write down your ideas, record them in a video or write your own, completely new story.
You may enjoy this Hogwarts Digital Escape Room (recommended for 8+ but can be done by younger with adult support) – it can be lots of fun!
Don’t forget that the official Harry Potter site Wizarding World has the brand new addition of a Home Hub to banish boredom during the lockdown, including a lesson on drawing a Niffler and lots of quizzes and puzzles.
We hope you and your child have fun trying out some of these Potty for Potter activities. We’d love to hear from you if you come up with any other interesting and exciting activities on the theme. Let us know at focus@potentialplusuk.org
This blog is based upon ideas from members of Potential Plus UK’s Facebook group “Parenting High Potential”, a support group for parents who want to develop their child’s high potential. If you would like to join this private facebook group please message the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/422127737839473/
About the author: Rebecca Howell is Potential Plus UK’s Senior Education Consultant. She leads various aspects of the organisation, including oversight of the assessment and advice services. She is passionate about leadership and developing new services to support members. With a background in educational leadership, she has 3 children with high learning potential/dual or multiple exceptionality.
