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As you watch the Harry Potter™ movies as a family for the bajillionth time, has there ever been a point where you wished you were actually at Hogwarts™?
No? Stop lying…
On this page, we’re going to tell you about four awesome, creative activities that will get you and your whole family ready for the new Hogwarts year…
All you need for these awesome family play activities are a few LEGO® bricks and a vivid imagination…
As we all know, the first thing every young witch or wizard needs from Diagon Alley™... is a wand!
Get your family, friends and goblins to apparate to your kitchen table, spread out some LEGO bricks in front of you, before asking each builder to make their wand!
Unlike in the Harry Potter series, a LEGO Harry Potter wand can come in all shapes and colors! Might it contain the fiery red of a phoenix feather? The ghostly silver of unicorn hair? Perhaps a rare mix of both? You might not know now exactly how it will turn out, but rest assured, the wand chooses the wizard…
As you will all remember from your Hogwarts acceptance letters: “all students… may bring, if they desire, either an owl, a cat or a toad.”
Any ideas where you might find a magical pet? Yep, you guessed it, you’re going to build one! Give your builders 10 minutes or so to build an animal companion – and don’t forget to name them!
Magical tip: Sometimes it’s easier to build complex shapes (like an owl’s wing) with fewer pieces.
With wands and pets at the ready, all you need now is to show us whether you are a Gryffindor™, Ravenclaw™, Hufflepuff™ or Slytherin™ student!
With your bricks on the table in front of you, ask the builders to build “a piece of your mind”. That instruction should be open-ended enough to encourage some true inner-soul builds…
After 10 minutes of building has elapsed, then it’s time for the rest of the table to discuss and guess what Hogwarts House your build best belongs to!
Some might be easy. Perhaps a young Ravenclaw-in-waiting in your family has built themselves a bookcase? Or if you built a snake, then welcome to Slytherin, my cunning friend! Others will be trickier… (Is a car more Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?!)
One thing is for sure, it will lead to lots of interesting discussion with more than a few opportunities for family members to show off their Harry Potter trivia knowledge.
After all, Harry Potter himself proved that you can influence the Sorting Ceremony with which House you would prefer…
Top Tip: For maximum effect, the reader of this article (yes, you, reading these words, you look great, have you changed your hair?) shouldn’t reveal to the room that this is a Harry Potter Sorting Ceremony, until after the building time has elapsed. Sneaky…
These are just some of the ways to get started on your Harry Potter Crafts night. As ever, the best people to figure out what game is best for your family… is you!
Final Top Tip: Presenting creative work to close family is a great way to build kids’ confidence! So, whatever you build – from favorite characters or animals, to magical potions & class supplies, to Quidditch™ gear – set an amount of time to build, and then encourage everyone to present!
After all, what was it Dumbledore™ said? “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.”
