What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Thursday, July 15, 2010

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. ;-)












12 comments:

Terri said...

They did a wonderful job using their creativity and imaginations. That was one of the things I loved most about homeschooling. By the way, we used to use KONOS and those were some of our favorite castle books!

Bonnie said...

I, am ridiculously impressed. Really very much so!
I also think we had that book as kids, and it met an untimely death via drowning in paint.
Love it!

Tracy said...

Great job all around, and your photos are fabulous!

Unknown said...

LOVE LOVE IT!!! My kids are going to go gaga over this when I show them! :) We just made marshmallow catapults today after like 2 months of mom...um...not getting the supplies...they worked about pretty good! :P :) We are crazy for Playmobil here...wish I had an extra $gazilliontrillion of spare monies around here to buy it ALL! ;) Will live though...we have tons of rocks...all my kids really need is rocks! :D Sorry, I'm kinda slap happy! :)

Sorry about the heat! We have a window ac unit that helps a lot with our downstairs...(((HUGS)))

Jerelene said...

Love the castle! They did a great job. It's so hard not to butt in and help isn't it? I always want to put my help in there too:) Sorry to hear that it's so hot there. It's been scorching here in southern Indiana too. 95 yesterday..with no relief in sight..:(
I love Corynn's skirt in the previous post..Did you make it?
And since I'm so full of questions..have you decided on a baby name yet? I would love to hear about it :)
Hope it cools down soon. It's been miserable trying to do my canning. I've not been on the computer much for all the garden goodies keeping me busy..
Hope it cools down for you soon...
Hugs....Jerelene

Peggy said...

I am so sorry you have been suffering with the heat!!! I can second Jerelene about the heat here in Indiana... who knew it could be so warm so early in the summer (we've been up into the 90's off and on since mid May) Okay, I will admit it.. we do have central air so it hasn't been unbearable. The house is a pre-fab that is only 12 years old so it came with central air.

I love, love, love the castle!! I see the apple is not falling far from the tree!! :) And we have checked some of the very same books out of the library in the past! The boys loved them when they were younger!

Off to sew a skirt and find a gift card for a birthday party tonight!

alane said...

Wow that is awesome, you are so creative Rebecca! I bet the kids had a blast.

Wendy said...

Great job kids! Brings to mind Isaacs Longhouse that he created...SO cool! Cory used to have his kids create cereal box book reports...I might have to get the kids into some more books this summer and let them create one of those...thanks for the inspiration!

lisa said...

Hi Rebecca,
Just an internet reader. (A girlfriend sent me a link to your blog).
Who is the author of the "Build Your Own Castle" book first pictured?

I looked on Amazon.com and found two choices (without cover pictures, so I couldn't compare) -
M. Smythe
OR
Pitcher and Nevitt

Many thanks,
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Oh, that is so neat! I built a similar castle when I was in Kindergarden. Fond memories! = )

Regina said...

We just covered the Middle Ages this past school year. We ordered castle building cards from klutz.com and it went over so well that we ordered even more. With the kids that I take care of and our children together they had a Medieval Castle village covering the table in the basement within a couple of hours. The good thing is that they could take them apart and put them back together again in a different way. Right now they are sitting on the hearth with some towers poking out of their assigned bin. :0)

I hope all is well with you! Praying for you as you come nearer to the birth of your sweet babe.

((((hugs))))
Regina

Lindsey's Photographs said...

So cool! I love your blog. And Ive noticed you havent been on. Praying everything is well in your neck of the woods. And that everything is well for your little babe. My little girly thought the photo of your daughter knitting was the neatest thing :) And the prarie bonnets I bought a few years ago from you. Have been their new favorite thing.