This resource provides the historical context of the various functions of runes in Northern Europe and provides some fun activity prompts for brainstorming and creating messages using them:
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/app/uploads/2016/11/Runes.pdf This is an example of an interesting prompt for younger learners that allows students to reflect on each part of the Hobbit's journey:
"Look at the map from The Hobbit: some of the shapes on it look like letters of the alphabet. Mountains look like M, the dragon, or great worm, looks like W. the river looks like a long S, and the trees look like F, but broken and twisted. How many words can you find beginning with each of these letters that will describe each thing or place?"
