Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand was awarded the 2018 NAPPA Award for excellence in toy making. This award is given to any toy product that parents feel excels at not only entertaining children but helping them learn skills that are essential for everyday life while allowing children to have fun and play with other children in a healthy way. There are three different types of wands that include Hermione’s wand and Dumbledore’s wand. All three wands can be used together expanding on the play experience, which is open to not only boys but girls as well. All of these factors are what contributed to the Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand receiving this award.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand is designed to look like the wand from the Harry Potter movie. It is brown and comes to a narrow point. The handle is thicker and grooved making it easier to hold. The tip of the wand illuminates just like the wands do in the Harry Potter movies. The base has six buttons on it that when pressed can either allow you to cast spells or pick which mode you want to work with at the time. The top button on the base of the wand is the Spell Casting button, which gets pressed whenever you want to cast a spell in any of the available modes. The other five buttons are for the five modes of play. Those modes are Spell Training, Spell Practice, Training Spells, Wizard Tag, and Free Play. When Spell Training or Practice modes are selected, the five buttons will illuminate in a pattern. Either all five buttons will light up or a lesser number will light up; when that happens, find the corresponding spell on the spell chart, and that’s the spell you have to cast.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand comes with several sound effects, but two of them are the most distinctive and the most important. When casting spells, the sound effects are what let you know whether or not you are casting the spells correctly. If you cast the spell correctly then you will hear a magic, uplifting cadence sound that alerts you to the success of your execution of the spell. If you do not cast the spell correctly then you will hear a fizzle sound that will alert you to try again until you have managed to move the wand in the proper way to cast the spell. The base of the wand is where the speaker is located that will alert you to your success or failure at spell casting. When holding the wand make sure you don’t cover the speaker with your hand or else you won’t be able to hear if you have been successful or not.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand comes in the box with itself and an instruction manual. The instruction manual shows how to calibrate the wand and how to use all the buttons. The front of the manual; however, is the spell casting chart. The chart comes with eleven spells for you to learn five or which are training spells that you can use during training mode that will help you to learn how to move the wand with precision. Once you have mastered the training spells you will have more ease at casting the eleven spells that can be used during other areas of play when using the wand. The five training spells are: Incendio, Arresto Momentum, Wingardium Leviosa, Finite Incantatem, and Ventus. Once you have mastered those five spells they become part of the eleven spells you can use during play. The other six spells you will then learn are: Locomotor, Alohomora, Revelio, Meteolojinx, Tarantallegra, and Mimblewimble.

The first mode of play is the spell training mode. In this mode, you press the first of the five buttons that are grouped together. When selected, the five buttons will light up in a pattern that will correspond with a spell from the spell chart. When you see the pattern and match it, you can then attempt to cast the spell according to the movement indicated on the chart. Each spell has their own unique sound effect. Once you cast the spell, you will either get the uplifting cadence sound or the fizzle sound indicating whether or not you casted the spell correctly. After each successful casting of a spell, a new light pattern will appear. If you want to skip a certain spell hit the spell training button again and it will skip ahead to the next spell. This mode is a great way to memorize the spells.

Spell practice mode requires another Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand and fellow wizard. In this mode, choose the second button from the top in the group of five buttons. When selected, both wands will light up with the same pattern and after the countdown on the wand through the illuminated lights is complete, both wizards will try and cast the spell on the other. The wand, which follows and tracks your motion, will determine who casted the spell fastest and most accurate. The winning wand will make a sound indicating that who was the fastest and most accurate wizard. It is recommended to stand a few feet apart from each other with nothing blocking your ability to cast your spell on the other person. Eye contact is also essential as it will help you to cast the spell more efficiently.

Five of the eleven spells are training spells. In this mode, you will once again need another wizard and their wand. Like the spell practice mode, stand a few feet apart and have a clear path between you. Training spells are activated by selecting the third button down from the top. In this mode, choose one of the five spells to be cast from the five specific training spells located on the bottom of the spell chart. When ready try and cast the spell on the other person. The wand that is fastest and most accurate wins and one of the five buttons will illuminate. The first person to successfully cast five spells wins.

Wizard Tag is similar to Laser Tag, except with wands. When the fourth button down from the top is selected, your wand is in Wizard Tag mode. When this mode is selected all five buttons on your wand will be illuminated. When you are ready to play, point your wand at the other person and press your spell cast button and if you are accurate and your tag spell hits the other wand, then one of the buttons on the other person’s wand will go out. The first person to lose all five lights loses. In this mode, you can hide behind furniture, run into other rooms and chase each other casting the tag spell in order to put out one of the other person’s lights. This game can be played with as many people as possible as long as every person playing has a wand and it’s set in Wizard Tag mode. If all five of your lights go out, you can hold down on the spell cast button and move your wand in a counterclockwise motion to turn back time and re-illuminate your lights so that you can rejoin the game.

Free play mode is the fifth and final mode on the Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand. In free play mode you can cast whatever spells you want at anytime without the help of the wand. As long as you have the movements of the spells memorized, you can enjoy a game of wizarding with your friends and cast spells on each other. When the spell is cast correctly you will hear the uplifting cadence sound and when the spell is not cast correctly you will hear the fizzle sound, which indicates you have to try again. This open play is a great way for kids to expand their imaginations and create their own Harry Potter story to act out. The wand also acts as a great accessory to any costume, so the authenticity of the costume and wand are at a high level. Free Play mode is the mode that kids enjoy the most as they are free to roam and play with no restrictions. The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand is recommended for kids eight-years-old to eleven-years-old, but it can be enjoyed by any age group who has a vivid imagination and love for the Harry Potter films.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand runs on three AAA batteries. Fortunately, the three batteries are included with the wand. Upon opening the box all you have to do is switch the wand on and the wand will be ready to calibrate and cast spells. Some parents find it essential to have extra batteries on hand upon purchasing the wand. Because the batteries may be sitting for a while before they are used, when the toy is started up the battery life tends to dwindle quickly or sometimes the batteries won’t work at all. Having the extra batteries on hand ensures that the wand can be fully usable upon opening the box.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training wand is in a low to medium price range. The wand is not too expensive considering there is a lot of technology included in using and enjoying the wand to its full potential. For the price that the wand is being sold for it is a good buy because not only will it entertain your child for hours, but also it will help your child develop their spellcasting help them to become further immersed in the Harry Potter stories.

The Harry Potter Wizard Training Wand was the recipient of the 2018 National Parenting Product Award. This prestigious award is given to toys that parents deem suitable for learning and social skill building, but also toys that far surpass a parent’s expectations. The wizard wand is authentic looking and makes sounds that create a realistic experience for your child. The more realistic the experience, the more immersed your child will be with playing with the toy and using their imagination to create scenarios and stories that will entertain them for hours. The wands help them with their hand-eye coordination, and fosters their skills at reading and following directions. The wand is perfect for the biggest Harry Potter fans as it goes well with any Harry Potter costume and creates the feeling of actually being a wizard from the Harry Potter books and films. This toy is a must-have for any young child who wants to play an interesting game with friends and be entertained for hours at a time.