This is a really fun way of helping children to look closely at the detail of a medieval castle. They are cast in the role of spies for their local lord (Earl Fuddy Duddy), who has an old-fashioned castle.
He has heard that his enemy, Lord Newfangle, a few miles away has just built a new castle in the latest style. The spies are asked to visit the castle which is almost complete and make some sketches. But they have to be careful. They must not be seen.
Learning objectives
- Children can identify at least five typical features of the exterior of a medieval castle
- they learn to work collaboratively to reconstruct an image of a castle from memory
- they can generate a couple of appropriate questions to ask a medieval castle designer.
Step 1
Set the scene. The year is 1385. A new castle is being built. The children are to be spies to see if they can sketch the castle and bring back some drawings for the local lord who wants to copy the new castle but can’t be seen. So he has to send spies. Because there are too many spies to all go at once the
