Castle Day
It’s Castle Day at EYFS Home and Gemma Everson is joining us for lots of medieval fun involving knights, dragons and even food! Yum! Hello, my name is Gemma Everson and I am a children’s author, a teacher and also a mum. I love learning about history and I particularly love visiting castles! Today we are going to be learning more about them and making our own castles, shields and dragon masks! We will even make some easy peasy medieval snacks.
Make Your Own Castle
Let’s make a castle first today! You will need some cardboard boxes and tubes for this activity. Scissors, glue, felts pens, Sellotape and string will also be useful. I will show you how I made my castle and then have a go at making your own. We would love to see what you create – please send us a photo!
Grown Ups: Talk to your child about the different parts of a castle as discussed in the video. Help your child to plan out their castle, maybe draw a picture first. Talk about how to join materials together to create the features they want.
Make a Dragon Mask
Many people think of dragons when they hear the word ‘knight’. There are many stories about dragons who guarded castles and St. George, the patron saint of England even slayed a dragon! Let’s make a dragon mask using the printable template below and then you can pretend to be a dragon too!
Grown Ups: Talk to your child about the different parts of a castle as discussed in the video. Help your child to plan out their castle, maybe draw a picture first. Talk about how to join materials together to create the features they want.
Make a Shield
Shields were very important for knights as they protected them when enemies attacked. Choose the shape of shield you want and draw it on some card very large. Divide it into sections and decorate it with your favourite sports, food or hobbies. What does your shield say about you?
Grown Ups: This activity will not only help your child to develop creatively but it will also help them to think about what their interests and hobbies are. Talk about what they are good at and what makes them special.
Making Medieval Gingerbread
This recipe is super easy! You just need a few ingredients which are listed below. In Medieval times, gingerbread was a sweet or a rare treat. It was usually moulded into different shapes and colour added to it! Try adding colour to your gingerbread. Do you prefer it to modern day gingerbread?
Grown Ups: This activity is easy for small children to be independent in. Guide them through the recipe and talk about what they notice as they observe the ingredients changing.