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Our next homeschool history for kids  unit focuses on Medieval Times. We will be studying castles, knights, chivalry, coats of arms, food, and other elements from the middle ages.
medieval-castles-for-kids

Medieval Castles for Kids

I love planning and preparing huge history units for our homeschool! Our family likes to really immerse our self in the time period and do lots of hands on history projects. By doing so we are able to learn as a family (from toddler and preschool through kindergarten and elementary school), really explore a topic, and the content really sticks!

So here is one of my kids all time favorite history units – middle ages for kids!

Building Our Castle from Cardboard Boxes

The first thing we did in our Medieval Unit was to build our own castle. This helped set the time period, create interest, and was a LOT of fun! We have had countless hours of fun playtime in it and have even enjoyed reading our stories in it too!

making a castle out of boxes  Making our Medieval Caslte

We have been saving Amazon, Honest Company, and a filing cabinet for a while now. You can of course make yours bigger or smaller depending on how many boxes you have. The kids helped me stack the boxes to look like a castle – a great math game that helps kids with logic skills! Then I taped the boxes together slightly with packing tape to give them a little support. I cut out our draw bridge & window from guard tower.
Huge DIY Caslte for pretend plan and homeschool medieval unit
Next I spray painted the front only. Ideally I would have done this outside, but it was winter! I had drop clothes down and windows open to help with the fumes. Of course you can always have a brown ‘sponsored by Amazon’ *grin* castle.    insie our cardboard box castle
The inside of the castle had a large Great Hall, Guard tower, and dungeon. We’ve had so much fun with this project!
August 2012 885 And of course we needed to guard our castle – so we made a catapult. The one we made was included in a Kiwi Crate, but you could easily make one with rubber bands & craft sticks like this one from Science Sparks.

Medieval Costumes

Toddler and Preschool Castle Creative PlayDressing up is part of the fun!! We happen to have some costumes that worked perfectly {I stock up after Halloween when Target costumes go 75% off or more}, but if you don’t have costumes there are lots of great suggestions in Days of Knights and Damsels: And Activity Guide.

Dying silk with kool-aid   Medieval Unit costumes

The kids dyed silks to make Minnie a princess hat. This clever idea using Kool-Aid and Vinegar was from Kiwi Crate.

 

Medieval Food:

We learned that eating in Medieval times was a lot different than we do today. For starters, you didn’t have a fork – you used a knife and your fingers. In the castle there were many cooks who cooked over fire and served many in the great hall. What you ate depended a lot on how much money you had as fruits and vegetables were a sign of wealth. Read more in A Medieval Feast recommended below.
Medieval Unit Peasant Bread
We made Peasant bread. Lucky for us we have clean water and refrigerated milk to have with ours. In Medieval times even children drank beer with their meal.

Medieval Unit Literature Based Study Guide & Lapbook

Middle Ages Literature Based Study Guide for Homeschool Language Arts
We started reading a wonderful historical fiction for the middle ages. The Door in the Wall really helps the time period come alive to kids K-6th grade as a read aloud or 4th –6th graders to read independently. As we read this 100 page book we will fill in the different elements from the lapbook that help explain more about the Middle Ages and help my kids understand this Newberry Medal Winning book better. Don’t miss the Door in the Wall Study Guide & Lapbook.

 

Book Recommendations:

Books are a HUGE part of our learning. These are books that we own and LOVE! These books, except as noted below, are great for kids K-6th grade. (click on the book to see more)

    

Note: Medieval World is geared at ages 9 and up, but is a wonderful way to see what is going on around the world during this period. I highly recommend it for those teaching this time period.

medieval times for kids - 4 week lesson about history from 400-1600 AD. Make a life-size castle, design a coat of arms, make a bow and arrow, learn the significance of the church in the middle ages, learn the origins of the pretzel, and paint life famous artist Giotto with egg paint.

Journey back to the time of castles and knights with this fun middle ages for kids hands-on history lesson for kids!

Vikings for Kid s- this is a fun hands on history unit that will help make history come alive including history activities, history crafts, free history printables and more for learning about early explorers #vikings #history #homeschooling Native Americans Plains Tribes Lesson civil war for kids free printable board game

History Lessons for Kids

Check out one of or MANY engaging, Free history lessons for kids

  • Explore American History for kids including lots of fun, hands on activities and free printables
  • Dive into Mesopotamia History to learn about Gilgamesh
  • 4 week lesson about Early Explorers for Kids
  • Learn about castles, knights, and more in this exciting Middle Ages for Kids
  • Make a teepee, dig for arrowheads, color our printable books and more in this Native Americans for Kids lessons
  • The Colonial America for Kids lesson takes kids on a journey back to the first permanent settlement in America – Jamestown. Students will learn about colonial life with lots of hands on projects like eating Gruel, making a Wattle & Daub house, and creating a tin lantern will make the settlement come alive.
  • We will make westward expansion for kids come alive for kids as they learn facts about the time period from about 1783-1898. In addition to learning about the Oregon trail, pony express, gold rush, transcontinental railroad, students will also learn to match animal trails, map the united states, and learn about North American animals too.
  • Civil War for Kids – students will learn about slavery, famous Americans from the Civil War, famous battles, and how our nation stayed together. Lesson includes printable worksheets, mapping activities, printable civil war board game and more!
  • Learn about US States for Kids – state coloring pages, president coloring pages, state report forms, states and capital printables, and so much more!
  • Learn about the Roaring 1920s for Kids – Printable Book to Read, Color, and Learn
  • Rosa Parks for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
  • Martin Luther King Jr for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
  • 1950s for Kids Reader to Color, Learn and read about what life was like in America in 1950

16 Printable Country Studies for Kids - children will have fun learning about countries around the world with this fun resource perfect for pre k, kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, and grade 6 including Kenya, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Netherlands, Mexico, China, Philippines, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Chile, Colombia, Australia, and Costa Rica. FREE Printable 50 Us States coloring pages Kids will have fun learning about Children Around the World using these free printable worksheets for kids of all ages. #childrenaroundtheworld #christmasaroundtheworld #geography

Looking for more resources and free worksheets to teach students about geography for kids? You will love these coloring sheets, printable maps, books, activities and games:



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  1. Kim Nordby Avatar
    Kim Nordby

    Wondering how to download or purchase the whole unit for Medieval history. Thanks!!

    1. Beth Gorden Avatar

      It is free =) You just have to click on each week to see the lesson for each part.