OUR HOMESCHOOL ADVENTURE SERIES
Last week we got sorted in our houses and 'Dad' finally finished creating his account on the Wizarding World; so we discovered we have two Gryffindors, a Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw AND a Slytherin - which is perfect because now we can get down to the real business of the House Cup!
Not sure about what the House Cup is or how we're using this in our homeschool; then read on...
What is the House Cup?
We think that this explanation of the house point system and the House Cup from Professor Minerva McGonagall is the best! "While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour." If you're new to all things Harry Potter then you can find out all about this (just like all the first year students) in the first book and first movie - The Philosopher's Stone (sometimes called The Sorcerer's Stone).
How the House Cup Works in Our Homeschool Adventures!
So, obviously there are tonnes of ways that you might like to incorporate the House Cup into your homeschool adventures - but for us, it seemed pretty obvious to use the House Cup during our Gameschooling.
We are big lovers of games - electronic, board, card, and otherwise - so, we decided that we would award points to each house based on their participation in (and of course, winning of) the different games that we play throughout our Wizards and Wands Adventure.
For each win, the participant's House will be awarded one point. Special points bonuses are in discussion and might be awarded for creativity & innovation in gameplay, persistence, and sportsmanship.
We're yet to decide on the amount of bonus points per action but we're all in agreement on how bonus points can be initiated.
If you're interested in using our rules then click the image to download and print a copy of them.
The Leader Board!
We've already started playing a bunch of cool games and currently have a really dodgy way of recording our scores (literally the names of the Houses and a number written underneath on our whiteboard).
BUT...
We have some ideas for ways we'd like to keep our scores visible, memorable and themed (thanks Pinterest 😂); so now we're on the hunt for supplies.
💡We'll add our updated scoreboard here when we finish it!
Here are some ways that you might like to start recording your House Cup scores:
Put your House Crests onto some glass jars or other clear containers.
Then, begin loading them up with pebbles, pompoms, or anything else that comes in all of the House colours (think: green, yellow, red and blue).
You could even use scraps of coloured paper balled up, coins, beads or you might like to download our printable tokens.
This point counter is one of our favourites from all of the amazingly creative versions on the web.
It's simple, but colourful and attractive AND it's really easy to use.
Simply draw up your counters on a large sheet of card and add colour!
If using this version, we'd put markers on the sides like a ruler or test tube that marks increments of one point so that it is easy to add your points one (or more!) at a time accurately.
To make things nice and simple for you, we've created a template that you can print out and the best part is that it's totally FREE!
The point counter pictured above and the YouTube tutorial that in links to is great but unfortunately this point counter is just for aesthetics and doesn't actually count points ☹️
BUT...
The good news is, is that you could take a few tips from the tutorial below (just click the black button to visit Old Timer's Habits blog) and modify the very pretty contraption above to actually work OR you could make your own version of the simple soft drink bottle counter that Old Timer's Habits makes in the tutorial below.
Either way, you'll end up with a super cool 'automatic' counter that is lots of fun to make AND lots of fun to use!
Or you might like to only keep score of specific games you play, you could list them out on a scoreboard poster like this Triwizard Tournament one.
Feel free to be as creative as you want, but all you really need is a large piece of cardboard (or a whiteboard), a ruler for making your grid and pens for writing all the details.
Super easy!
For some fantastic printable House Crests that you can use on this design (or for other projects in your Harry Potter inspired units), head on over to our store to get your copy!
14 PAGES OF FUN!
What to Play?
Now that you've got your House Cup rules sorted and have your scoreboard set up; you're probably wondering what games to play.
We're a bit spoilt for choice at our place...both Mum and Dad brought their childhood favourites with them into adulthood AND if you know us, you know our passion for games is nearly as strong as our love of books - you could say we have a bit of a library here!
We had a few games on hand already that fit the Wizards and Wands theme but we also found a bunch of awesome games that we've added to our Wishlist AND a bunch of free printables that we hope you'll enjoy as much as we are!
We've added our favourites below so you can include them in your homeschool or classroom adventures too!
P.S. We're not limited ourselves to 'themed' games, we still play all our favourites and award points for those in the House Cup too!
OUR TOP PICK
This has got to be one of our favourite new games! It is super easy and quick to set up and is easily playable by even young children (although the strategising is probably a little beyond them, they have loads of fun colour matching and making potions in their very own wizard laboratory!).
Potion Explosion!
The Setting? Horribilorum Sorcery Academy for Witty Witches and Wizards. Your Role? Students completing their final exam for the school year. How to Play? Create potions by pulling marbles from the dispenser (these represent the different ingredients in the various potion recipes). When you take a marble, the rest slide down the ramp; if two marbles of the same colour touch, then an explosion happens and the player can take all of those marbles too!
The Best Part?
Each completed potion has special abilities when drunk (you can use these to get even more marbles from the dispenser and complete more potions faster!).
How to Win?
Collect skill points by completing sets of three of the same potion or by collecting five different potions. Each potion also has a point value (so be sure to keep an eye out for the higher numbers to score more points). The player that scores the most points graduates with top honours and wins the game!
OTHER BOARD GAMES WE LOVE
We've already played quite a few great games but two other games we love are: Alchemists and Hogwarts Battle. Both of these games are a little more in depth, take a LOT longer to set up and play, and are definitely more suited to older kids and adults.
Alchemists
Alchemists is especially involved and is not for the faint-hearted; just getting through the instruction manual and popping out all the parts takes a LONG time! However, it is a fabulously fun game and much easier to get started after your first run through of the game.
Alchemists is a problem-solving, strategising game that takes equal parts intelligence, cunning, and deductive reasoning - it really got our brains activated!
The other really cool thing about Alchemists is that it can be played with a free companion App, which really adds to the overall atmosphere of the game and is a great way to incorporate a little bit of screen time in a productive way (if screens aren't your thing, the game can also be played with one player as the game master).
Your Role?
An aspiring alchemist; tossing ingredients into the cauldron to see what you can make. Should you drink it? Probably not. But you can find out the effects by testing it on a student!
How to Play?
Essentially you perform experiments to discover the magical properties of your ingredients.
You demonstrate your knowledge by selling potions.
You can use the money to buy artifacts to further your research and publish theories to win reputation points.
You also have the opportunity to earn grants (to further your research) AND discredit the work of your fellow alchemists (they lose reputation and you gain it if you're right!).
How to Win?
You win by figuring out the properties of the most ingredients, publishing papers and earning points!
Hogwarts Battle
Hogwarts Battle is pretty involved too, but the best part is that the game is broken down into separate rounds (there are seven) and you can take breaks in between because the rules change slightly each round and new materials are added into the game (they are boxed separately in the game case.
There are also two fabulous expansion packs available for this game too, so for those die-hard Harry Potter fans...this game series has you covered.
You can find them by clicking the game names below:
Your Role?
Play as your favourite character to defend the wizarding world from evil forces. You can choose from Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom.
How to Play?
Gain influence to master powerful spells, recruit allies, and uncover magical items.
Each level of the game adventure increases in difficulty; you will reveal more challenging adventures, unlock new secrets and ultimately save Hogwarts from the Dark Lord!
How to Win?
Work together to defeat all of the villains of this fabulous series.
THE PRINTABLES!
Sometimes buying new games can be a bit out of our price range, so we usually troll the internet to find something that fits the bill. We're going to save you the trouble of searching high and low for some themed games to add to your Harry Potter inspired adventures; here are some of our favourite finds!
Harry Potter Bingo
This super cute printable has our little ones hooked, and for good reason! The images and bingo tokens are super cute and it was incredibly easy to print and assemble. We laminated ours for longevity (and wipe-ability - little hands tend to have a little something extra more often than not, especially for our busy, outdoorsy little ones!). We thought a nice touch was that the Bingo Cards have the house colours as a border (there are three versions of the Bingo Cards for each house) - so you can pick and mix while staying loyal to your house colours! 😉 We did find that we needed to print more Bingo tokens (our first time playing, we all ran out partway through the game and needed to use coins!). But even if printing and cutting loads of circular things isn't for you - you can use counters, Lego, coins, or basically anything else to mark your places. Literally, every day since we finished making this game, Little Miss 4 has wanted to play after dinner every night! The best part of this game is that it is totally FREE from Fun Money Mom - so click the button below to download yours and get started!
Hogwarts Sorting
We stumbled upon this when we were actually looking at all of the other cool Harry Potter inspired printables at Rock My Homeschool.
We like it because it is easy print and go; helps you to revise information about the Hogwarts Houses and all of the cool wizarding world stuff you've been exploring AND it is customisable to suit your needs (just add in or take out cards as needed!).
This game PDF comes with two pages of cards and one page containing a custom die. Each House has eight prompt cards - roll the dice to see which stack you get a question from; then simply answer the questions or complete the instructions.
If the questions or commands on the cards are correctly answered by the player, then that player gets to keep the card. Once all cards have been drawn, the cards each player has in their hand will show them which house they've been sorted into (whatever you have the most of is your House).
Alternatively, if you've already been sorted into Houses over on the Wizarding World website then test your knowledge of your House by answering as many questions as you can (you might even like to use a timer!) OR you could test you Harry Potter General Knowledge by having a battle of wits between players (who knows the most about the wizarding world and the Hogwarts houses?).
Download this game by clicking the button below...have fun!
Lego Challenge Cards
We got super inspired by all of the wonderful wizardy, magical games out there and have decided to release our very out SproutEd Learning Hub Harry Potter inspired games selection. Things to Know
They are all printable games!
We provide colour and black and white versions!
They are inexpensive and fun!
The first game we're releasing is our Wizarding World Lego Challenge Cards! I know...we've managed to link up a few of our passions: games, Lego and the wizarding world! We're as excited as you and hope that you have lots of fun with these challenge cards. To grab a copy, head on over to our shop by clicking the button below!
Waldock Way Games
As we mentioned before, we got started on our Wizards & Wands journey because we rediscovered a unit we'd purchased from The Waldock Way.
Now Jessica from The Waldock Way is FABULOUS (for so many reasons) but in this case, because she has literally thought of everything for her Harry Potter inspired unit - including a bunch of printable games and game recommendations!
Some of the games included in her Wizards & Wands unit are:
Pictionary
Charades
Find it Fast
Wizard Duel
Horcrux Hunt
All of these are included in the unit, are easily print and go - and we're loving Find it Fast (kind of like Spot It!) and Wizard Duel (a fun Math-focused dice game)! You can join in with these great games too by heading over to The Waldock Way and checking out the Wizards & Wands unit (Jessica does a fabulous walkthrough so you know exactly what you're buying before you outlay a cent!). Click the button below to visit The Waldock Way.
We are having so much fun integrating our wizarding adventures into all aspects of our homeschooling at the moment - and we're loving how we are finding so many fun ways to explore this topic! We can't wait to share all of our adventures with you, so join us each Wednesday to learn about something new we're doing in our very our Wizarding World (a.k.a our homeschool)! AND Head on over to Little Sprouts Homeschooling and join in the conversation about all things Harry Potter - just click the image below!
