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Homeschool Science Inspired By Harry Potter

Do your kids love Harry Potter like mine do?  My kids are obsessed with anything Harry Potter related.  We have been to Universal Studios to see the Harry Potter World there, and they loved it!  So, I thought, what better way to motivate my kids to really love science than to use Harry Potter?  In my search, I found that there were a lot of Harry Potter themed science sources, even some really awesome lesson plans that are completely FREE. Score!  I’m going to share with you the secular science resources I found that we will be using this year to supplement our curriculum and have homeschool science with Harry Potter.  This would make a great unit study as well.

Genetic Traits in HP

This FREE lesson plan, provided by NLM (National Library of Medicine), is fantastic and very well organized.  What better way to learn Genetic Traits than homeschool science with Harry Potter?  They have everything done for you, step by step, complete with DNA, recessive and dominant genes, punnet squares, and everything in between.  They have multiple printables and slides available to use along with a bonus “Monster Genetics Lab” activity.  These are designed for classrooms, but I believe they could be adapted to homeschool science with Harry Potter as well.

Teaching Classification

Another one of my favorite lesson plans with the Harry Potter theme is this awesome (and FREE) Harry Potter science lesson teaching classification using Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans, which you can buy in stores now or at Amazon. Over on NSTA.org, David T. Crowther has put together a really great lesson called “Harry Potter and the Dichotomous Key” that gives step by step how to teach classification using this method.  Be sure to check this one out!

Invisible Ink

Remember the disappearing ink on the Marauder’s Map?  You can make your own using the chemical reaction of baking soda and acid (from citrus)!  PBS has a link with the ingredients and amounts you’ll need to do this yourself.  There are also some really cool items that you can purchase to make this even more fun.  One of my favorite products I have found is the Marauder’s Map Guide to Hogwarts that has a light in the wand which will reveal secret messages.  And there is also a pen in the wand that can help you make your own secret map!  This makes a good opportunity to use homeschool science with Harry Potter to learn the science behind black light as well!

Astronomy and Physics

Astronomy is a great subject to explore more through Harry Potter. At Hogwarts, the kids had to take Astronomy class, and your kids can do the same.  One idea is to use some of the characters with constellation names as a starting point. Find out what the constellations look like and try to go find them in the night sky.  If you need help locating them, I really like this book with the step by step guide.  Or my favorite, this interactive 3-in-1 globe that also has the constellations on it! 

Going a little further, other things like gravity, force and motion could also be tied into homeschool science with Harry Potter.  You can take this starting point and run with it, making this a whole astronomy or physics unit if you’d like.  You can meet your student where they are and learn about planets, the sun, stars, waves and rays or even quantum physics if you like!

Chocolate Frogs and Other Creepy Things

This might be the yummiest way to experience a little science!  Why not make some chocolate frogs like the ones in the movie? My daughter has this chocolate making kit and I think it would be perfect to use with this frog mold to create some really tasty chocolate frog treats to have.  You can also incorporate this into a learning experience by studying some of the animals that appear Harry Potter.  Frogs, spiders, snakes, and not so creepy owls are all options, just to name a few.

Polyjuice Potion

Who doesn’t love making slime, aka Polyjuice Potion?  This is more of a fun activity, but it does involve chemistry, and that is enough for us at my house.  Is it a solid or a liquid? Why do you think vinegar will dissolve slime? You can even make magnetic slime or glow in the dark slime!  

If you want to make your own, here is a FREE resource from the American Chemical Society that gives a scientific explanation behind slime.  Or you can buy a kit if you want it just to be easy and everything delivered to your door.  To make it even cooler, use potion bottles to store your slime.  You can make a “Polyjuice Potion” label.  I have even seen the potion bottles in the Dollar Tree this time of year. Your potions can be used as a Halloween decoration as well!

I also had this website bookmarked for something else, but it does kind of look like magic, so it might be fun to add here.  Let your kids try their hand at a 7 layer density model. How do the liquids stay separated and not mix together?  Is it magic, or is there science behind it?

Harry Potter Cookbooks!

Another yummy idea that greatly appeals to me about homeschool science with Harry Potter, A Harry Potter inspired cookbook, with great reviews!    The recipes look amazing. I know my daughter and I are going to have the best time working our way through this cookbook!  I think we will also add a movie themed day to this.  We will watch one of two of the movies, maybe make some festive decorations, and a meal right out of the cookbook. Sounds like my kind of science!

I also saw this one, the Wizard’s Cookbook, that says it is inspired by Harry Potter.  So, it may be a fun one to try out as well!  It also has great reviews, which is a really good sign that the recipes are good.

Some Other Great Books for Homeschool Science with Harry Potter

The first one I found is The Wizard’s Workshop: A Science Activity Book. This book looks amazing based on the reviews and pictures. Another similar Harry Potter themed science activity book is, Harry Potter: A Journey Through The History of Magic. With both of these books, there are a ton of fun science activities to do, and that would be perfect for this type of unit study.  I can’t wait to try out these books!  The reviews seem to indicate these are both great, but if you have tried either of these personally, let me know so that I know which one to try out first!  Or, I may just end up with both since I can’t seem to decide and how can you go wrong with Wizard and/or Magic science?

I know a lot of big Harry Potter fans already own these, but if you don’t yet, they would be fun items to add to the mix. J.K. Rowling’s set called Hogwarts Library were written to be actual books that you would find in the library at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  There is a set of them where you can get them all, or you can buy them separately.  Titles include Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

A few more that may also be worth looking into are The Science of Harry Potter: The Spellbinding Science Behind the Magic, Gadgets, Potions, and More!, which is geared towards the older students, and The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works, which has more mixed reviews but seems interesting.

There is also this book, Science Magic Tricks that seems like it could be a fun addition to homeschool science with Harry Potter.

Mostly For Fun, but Still A Bit of Science

Just to add a little more fun to your Harry Potter unit, you could add these Harry Potter flyers.  If you haven’t used these before, they are basically guides to making themed paper airplanes.  They give you paper to use that makes it look as much like the real thing as possible.  They are a lot of fun and my kids loved making and flying them. Additionally, the kids would even have races or fly them off the back deck to see what patterns they would notice with different ships. We don’t have the Harry Potter one yet, but we have the Star Wars version, and it was really great!  If your kids are into paper airplanes and Harry Potter, they will love this book. It comes with everything you need to make them.

And how about a Science Magic Kit?  I always seem to love the Thames and Kosmos products, and it appears they have a fantastic magic kit, Science or Magic?, available.  Here are a few other science based magic kits with great reviews that also look like a lot of fun!

More Than Just Science

Finally, although this site is focused on science, you can go much farther than just homeschool science with Harry Potter. Use the ideas below to see how you can work Harry Potter into many subjects.

You can explore the Latin meanings behind the words used in the spells.  You could use some of the characters names as a jumping off point to explore more about mythology.  Try using the story itself as a motivator for creative writing, or quoted for hand-writing practice.  You could go into the world of film-making and special effects. There are many art projects or even just drawings and paintings that can be inspired by Harry Potter. You can read about the story of J.K. Rowling and how she didn’t give up when her Harry Potter stories were first rejected.  You could go into more of the history of witchcraft and magic or with things like the Salem Witch Trials.  The possibilities with this are endless if you use your imagination (and maybe a bit of magic!)!