Castle building 101

Life has been ridiculously busy and yesterday was the worst yet (of this week anyway) so even though I have a ridiculous amount of work to do (like say, get the house undone from yesterday's adventure~to be revealed, btw~ and prepare for our upcoming week long house guest), I am TIRED and it is ridiculously hot out so I can only muster the energy to sit in front of the fan and write a ridiculously long post about a recent project the childer have been working on and to see how many times I can fit the word "ridiculous" (in any form) into one ridiculously redundant paragraph.

Yes~this heat IS getting to me. Why do you ask?!

Andrew found this book at the library and, as is often the case with books, was spurred on to creating one himself. Of course, being the crafty gal that she is, Corynn jumped right on that bandwagon.


So the castle project began and I tried very.very.very hard to let the kiddos do their thing without taking over the project (being the crafty girl that I am can sometimes create a problem when Mama starts making things "just so").

So the children gathered the supplies. Glued. Colored. Painted. Taped. Folded. Drew bricks. Cut brick slits for the castle top. Strung the drawbridge. Cut and made flags. Made water. Grew grass. And generally took over. (I never knew my children could grow grass and make water~the things you learn!)

I wielded an Xacto knife and glue gun for the small bit of "tough stuff" and then sat back and let them have at it.


We haven't done every project in the book. We may NEVER do the people and horses, since Playmobile people work so lovely with it. (THANK YOU PLAYMOBILE!) But I don't doubt that there will be a church and battle tent in our very near future.

They DID make the stable, though.

What is a castle without a place to put the horses? Andrew took over the stable project...

while Corynn made the flags.

And Papa took over the popsicle stick catapult project (his own design, not the one in the book). The kids didn't help with the catapult but have sure made USE of it! Cheerios are great ammunition by the way, especially for catapults with this much....power.

It can take people out across the room.


So you boys had better watch out.


Andrew painted the grass and Corynn made water from aluminum foil painted blue and plastic wrap.

They both did an awesome job brick-laying. The key to good brick laying is two on one and one on two, by the way.

Andrew says we need some alligators for the moat.


And since I am a homeschool Mama, and since ANYTHING fun can also be educational~ I went searching for some books on the subject. Maybe the children will find a few MORE projects to do for their castle. ;-)

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle

Days of the Knights

Living in Castle Times

The Knights Handbook

Living in a Castle

Knights and Castles

Castles