How to make a Harry Potter Unit your kids will love

I went to every Harry Potter midnight release party Barnes and Noble had.  I stood in line for hours in the hot Texas sun with sweat dripping down my back as I waited to get my number to buy the book at midnight.  I plan to do the same on July 30 when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child comes out (I’ve already pre-ordered it).

I passed on this love to my kids.  My kids are mad for Harry Potter and for a while I had a Harry Potter pinterest board to design the perfect Harry Potter unit, and then in a fit of “organization” and frustration with my numbers of boards I moved all of my pins over to my book and activity board.  But that was 60 pins, and I didn’t want my board to be suddenly all Harry Potter all the time, so I cheated a bit.  I wrote this post.

To explain the organization, we have two different types of book studies.  There’s the book studies that are educational and have lots of reading, writing, and traditional activities.  Then there’s our book and a movie books.  Those are mostly for fun.  The kids come up with projects (sometimes), but it’s mostly about the food.  Lots and lots of food.

 

And every now and then I throw in a craft I enjoy, so that’s how this is going to be divided up.  Fun, food, and educational (I wish I could think of how to make that start with F)

 

Harry Potter Snacks

First, let me share with you our Harry Potter snacks from our Harry Potter marathon.  The kids weren’t allowed to watch the each movie until they’d read the corresponding book (look at this nice boxed Harry Potter paperback set*).  When we did our marathon last New Year’s Day we picked up the Harry Potter Blue Ray set* (partially because I was missing the first Half of the Deathly Hallows, I’m really curious how I got every other movie).  Of course to further taunt me, they’ve started to release extended editions of the movies* (can I just say how UNFAIR that is?).

• Potion cauldrons- brownie bites with frosting and sprinkles
• pumpkin pasties- mini pumpkin pies
• Quidditch balls and Crystal balls- powdered sugar donut holes
• joke wands- licorice
• pumpkin juice- orange fanta
• fire whiskey- sprite
• troll’s blood- Big Red
• various candies were given potion names or names of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes snacks
• previous times we have used Cream Soda for Butterbeer, but for whatever reason our local grocery store didn’t have it.

 

Candle snacks– because the movies sure goes through a lot of candles even if they’re not referred to in the books.

Butter beer recipe– You have to include butter beer if you’re going to make snacks

Harry Potter movie night snacks– I was particularly amused by the cockroach clusters

This is an amazing conglomeration of Harry Potter parties– I thought the Quidditch broom popcorn particularly amusing

wizarding candy– I thought some of these were quite clever

wizard hat cupcakes– because you need more sweets after the candy

Harry Potter party snacks– oh the pictures of the food

 

Harry Potter unit printables

Some of these are educational, but most give flavor and flair to fun parties, and I just had to include them.

 

Invitation to Hogwarts printable– how cool to start off with your own invitation to a Harry Potter Unit.

printable Harry Potter spells– A good follow on activity, create your own spell

Harry Potter potion labels– because what’s anything without potions?

Harry Potter notebooking pages– what’s a good homeschooler without notebooking pages?

Hogwarts map drawn by J.K. Rowling– I’m sure it’s not at all apocryphal

Harry Potter drink printables– What’s the fun in drinking pumpkin juice if it’s not labeled like that?

Wizard printable pack– while it’s not specifically Harry Potter, I certainly thought of it when I pinned the post

 

Harry Potter unit crafts and activities

 

All set to watch #harrypotter and the Chamber of Secrets

A photo posted by Ticia (@ticiam) on Mar 3, 2016 at 4:14pm PST

This is a combination of the Noble House wands (we have Harry*, Hermione*, and Voldemort* [so the boys can have twin core wands], though now Princess wants Ginny’s wand* [Ginny is her favorite and this wasn’t out at Christmas when she got her wand]) and a wand Princess hand carved for me with Jeff’s help.

Because I love some crafts and activities.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets project– It cracks me up to read the projects on this post.

Potions exploration– Because what is Harry Potter without a bit of potions mucking about

Make magic potion and wands– You of course need an awesome wand and more potions playing

wand training and quidditch playing– You have to play the wizarding sport, right?

Harry Potter peg dolls– These are the ones we made, but I also have pinned another Harry Potter peg doll, a whole peg doll forum to drool over

Harry Potter on instructables– more projects than you could ever do

Harry Potter pencil broom– which my kids would instantly all argue over who gets to use it

and finally

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Forest– what kid wouldn’t love activities like this?

Of course, the few Harry Potter pins I kept are now happily residing on my Book and Activity Pinterest board Oh, they’re there too, but I couldn’t quite put all of my “I pinned this because Harry Potter” pins over there, so my Harry Potter pinterest board is still there…

Follow Ticia Adventures in Mommydom’s board book and activity on Pinterest.

I hope you enjoyed all of the literary fun and possibilities for a Harry Potter unit.