I'm sure they topped a lot of Christmas lists in 1999. I received Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and can hardly wait to read the next book. Here are a few of my favorite Harry Potter Web sites which feature fun games and activities.
Our first stop is at Scholastic Inc., J.K. Rowling's American publisher, to visit the official Harry Potter site. You can download screensavers, play Shockwave quizzes and word games, and read a brief interview with the author. In the Reading Circle you can answer questions to tell other kids what you think of the books. (Responses are screened before they are displayed on the Web site.) If you're like me and haven't read all of the books, you can read a sample chapter from each book online. Teachers will find two discussion guides--one for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the other covers the first three books in the series.
Fun with Harry is a Web site by a teacher and her students in Colorado. They have created activity pages that you can print, enlarge, and use. Design a crest for Hogwarts, fill in your own diploma, make a scrapbook, color, solve mazes, and more. These activities encourage you to be creative, just like Harry. Since Fun with Harry is hosted by a free Web site service, there are unavoidable ads that link to other areas of this service.
What do you think Dumbledore or the Hogwarts look like? At Our Harry Potter Pages children at Edleston Primary School in the UK share their art and writing about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the title of the first book in the UK). For teachers, there is also a page of lesson ideas.
There are a lot of Harry Potter fan sites on the Web. Unfortunately, some have very little content, others are out-of-date, and most include unmonitored chat areas and bulletin boards which I do not recommend for children.
A grown-up fan named Jenna has created The Unofficial Harry Potter Fan Club. Here, you'll find a fun Games page with word games, coloring pages, as well as teaching ideas. It also includes the fabulously useful Encyclopaedia Potterica. This resource lists characters, places and unique terms used in Harry Potter books with definitions and pronunciation guides. If you have forgotten what "Muggles" are or what a "Nimbus 2000" is you can easily look it up. Note that this site has pop-up ads.
Berit's Browse is where Berit highlights her favorite sites on various themes and discusses her opinions and observations about kids' sites and kids on the Internet. The column is also a great place for to cover topics that you are interested in. Let her know what you'd like to read about!