Read aloud
One chapter a sitting, by lamplight if you can. Little ones can draw while they listen.
Tell it back
Ask each child to retell the chapter in their own words before any questions.
Wander a subject
Pick one or two tabs that suit the day. Nobody needs to do everything.
Mark the chapter
Tap its number below. Your progress, notes and games stay saved on this device.
Chapters read
0 of 19Choose a passage
Every subject is a room under the hill. Tap a room and the lantern will lead you there. Seven sealed doors hide secret rooms. Some open to a riddle, some only to the keys in your satchel. Look closely at every picture too, because something glints in each one.
The twelve rooms
Narration & Discussion
Retelling is the heart of a read-aloud study. Choose the chapter you just finished for a short summary to jog memories, a retelling prompt, and questions to talk over.
Draw a slip
Tap the button to draw a retelling prompt that works for any chapter.
Literature & Language Arts
The story turns on a game of riddles played in the dark. Try some riddles of your own, learn the old words the narrator loves, and notice how the storyteller works.
These riddles were written fresh for this study, but each answer comes from the contest in chapter five. After playing, talk about this: was the last question in the book's contest a fair riddle?
Match each word to its meaning
Tap a word, then tap the meaning that fits.
A chatty narrator
The narrator often stops to speak straight to the listener, like a grandparent by the fire. Find a moment where this happens and read it in your best storytelling voice.
Songs in the story
Dwarves, elves and goblins all sing. Each song shows something about who is singing. What does a grumbling song tell you that a merry one does not?
Hints of what's coming
Small details, like a bare patch in a dragon's armour, matter much later. Keep a list of clues and check them off as they come true.
There and back again
Bilbo leaves home, is changed by the road, and comes back different. Compare the Bilbo of chapter one with the Bilbo of chapter nineteen.
Geography
Bilbo's road runs almost straight east, over mountains, through a dark forest and across a long lake. Tap any stop on the map to see what happens there and the real-world landform it echoes.
Solid line: the road east. Dotted line: Bilbo's quieter road home a year later. Gold trail and flag: how far your family has read (mark chapters on the Home tab).
History & Culture
The story has a long past behind it: a lost kingdom, a ruined town and a map handed down through a family. And the book itself has a real history, rooted in old northern poems that its author spent his life studying.
The timeline of the Lonely Mountain
Where the book came from
Science & Nature
The book is full of real creatures doing almost-real things. Flip each card to see what the story says, then what scientists know. Then use the moon lab to see why the dwarves had to wait for exactly the right evening.
Tap a card to flip it
Waiting for the right moon
In the story, the secret door can only be found on one special evening, when the last moon of autumn and the sun are in the sky together. A thin new crescent hangs low in the west just after sunset, close to where the sun went down. Slide to day 1 or 2 to see that moon.
Three small experiments
Math & Logic
Bilbo's contract promised him one fourteenth of the profits. Work out what that means, solve some road problems, and try a logic puzzle from the barrel escape.
What is one fourteenth of a hoard?
Type your answer and press check
Who is in which barrel?
Three dwarves are packed into three barrels standing in a row. Use the clues to work out who is in each one.
- Bombur's barrel is at one end of the row.
- Bombur is not in barrel 1.
- Kili's barrel stands right next to Bombur's.
Art, Handcraft & Music
The story's maps are covered in runes, and its dwarves make music with drums, harps and fiddles. Write your name in runes, paint your own map, and build a marching tune.
Write in old English runes
These are the Anglo-Saxon runes the story's map is written in. Some sounds, like "th" and "ng", get a single rune of their own.
A secret only moonlight shows
Some letters can only be read when moonlight falls on them. Move your lantern of moonlight over this old map (or drag a finger) and hold it over the hidden words.
The map looks empty… but is it?
Paint your own adventure map
Build a marching tune
Tap squares to add beats, then press play. Try a slow, deep drum for a sad song and lots of anvil for a working song.
Things to make
Cooking & Life Skills
Hobbits love a well-stocked larder, and the story opens with a host feeding thirteen surprise guests. Bake a seed-cake, pack for a long journey, and practise being a good host.
An old-fashioned seed-cake
Caraway seeds give the cake its warm, slightly aniseed taste. Swap in poppy seeds if your family prefers.
Your pack can carry 12 pounds. What goes in?
The good host checklist
Bilbo is flustered, but he still feeds everyone. Tick off each skill once you've practised it for real.
Character & Virtue
Bilbo is not brave because he's never afraid. He's brave because he keeps going while afraid. Talk through hard choices, then watch which virtues your family leans on most.
What you chose most
When did you need courage this week?
Drama & Public Speaking
Act out the big moments in your own words, play a storytelling game, and practise speaking with a timer. No scripts needed; the scenes give you the shape and you supply the lines.
Make up a tale on the spot
Take turns: one person starts the tale, and each person adds a sentence until someone says "and they went home again".
The storyteller's timer
Notebooking & Copywork
Keep one page per chapter. Everything you type saves on this device, and you can print a page or copy the whole notebook when you're done.
Copy the line slowly in your best handwriting. These were written fresh for this study, in the spirit of the book.
Outdoor Play
Take the adventure outside. Hunt for treasures, draw a quest, and play games built from the story's best moments.
The garden expedition
Press the button for a quest to complete outdoors today.
The Riddle Vault
Deep under the hill, behind a door that answers only to the right word.
Words are carved around the rim of a round stone door
"The more of me you take, the more of me you leave behind. What am I?"
Light every candle
Type an answer and press Answer. Each riddle you solve lights a candle on the shelf.
Carve a riddle of your own
The Hidden Treasury
Where the curios you find are kept, and where messages are locked in runes.
A heavy lock, carved with five runes
Use the rune key below to read the word, then speak it.
Everything you have found under the hill
Messages locked in runes
Decode each word. The rune key is on the lock above and in the Painted Room.
The Moon Chamber
A round room with a round window, where the stars are close enough to touch.
There is no keyhole here
A thin silver line runs all the way round this door. Only the Moon Key will open it, and the Moon Key can only be found by reading what moonlight shows.
Join the stars to wake three constellations
Pulsing stars are the next ones to touch. Follow the light from star to star.
The Barrel Cellar
Cool, dim and smelling of apples and old oak. Every barrel down here has a puzzle in it.
The Echo Gallery
A long hall of pillars where every whisper comes back to you. Actors come here to find their voices.
The Mapmaker's Attic
Up a ladder, under the roof beams, where an old mapmaker kept the tools of the trade.
The Last-Light Door
At the very end of the labyrinth, a grey stone door that only opens for those who carry every key.