JK Rowling has launched a new online Harry Potter hub for children at home

Everything you need to know about Harry Potter at Home (Photo: Shutterstock)Everything you need to know about Harry Potter at Home (Photo: Shutterstock)
Everything you need to know about Harry Potter at Home (Photo: Shutterstock)

With children across the UK now staying at home during the coronavirus lockdown, keeping them entertained while they continue to learn is a top priority for parents and guardians.

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Here to help is Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, with a new wizarding hub to keep fans occupied during the lockdown.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is Harry Potter at Home?

On 1 April, author J. K. Rowling tweeted: “Parents, teachers and carers working to keep children amused and interested while we’re on lockdown might need a bit of magic, so I’m delighted to launch harrypotterathome.com.”

Harry Potter at Home is a new hub, brought to fans via WizardingWorld.com, which brings brand new resources to readers in collaboration with partners such as Audible, Bloomsbury, OverDrive, Pottermore Publishing and Scholastic.

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The announcement of Harry Potter at Home comes after J.K Rowling and The Blair Partnership issued an open licence to teachers to allow them to post videos of themselves reading the Harry Potter books to their students.

What will I find on the website?

Described as a “hub of information and activities”, you’ll be able to find things like quizzes, word searches, puzzles and creative activities.

On the home page at the moment, you’ll find links to things such as “A handy guide to reading the Harry Potter books for the first time”, “The ABCs to Reading for Pleasure” and “Ten words you need to know when reading the first Harry Potter book”.

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If you or your children are already familiar with the world of Harry Potter, you can also put your knowledge to the test with some quizzes to do with the series?

In addition to this, the first book in the wizarding series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, has been made free to homes throughout April via Audible or in ebook format from the OneDrive library service.

There will also be a weekly newsletter making its way into inboxes every Friday that’s full of fresh and fun ideas.

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The announcement also said that more ideas are still in development, so there are still more features of the site still to be launched.

Do I need to sign up?

There’s no need to sign up - everything is completely free to access, but you can create a Wizarding World account if you want to.

However, if you do want to register, it opens up other features already on the website and you can also sign up to the weekly newsletter when you register to the website by opting in.

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You’ll be able to access things like finding out what your Hogwarts House really is - are you a Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff?

To register, you’ll need to enter your date of birth, your email address and create a password.

Your password will need to be a minimum of eight characters, must contain a number and a combination of uppercase and lowercase.

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From there, you’ll need to enter your first and last name, and it’s here that you can opt in to the newsletters.

Once you’re all signed up, your ‘wizarding passport’ is good to go and you’ll be presented with the option to discover your Hogwarts House.

“Adorn the Sorting Hat to be placed into your rightful Hogwarts House. The Sorting Hat’s decision is final,” the website states.

When you click “begin the ceremony”, you’ll be taken to a new screen where you’ll need to answer questions - they range from “this or that” questions to “what would you do” questions.

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