Knight Party Dragon Felt Finger Puppets

 

These friendly dragons are great pals to have in the house! Use the template below for the bigger body parts and cut a fire shape from a scrap of red, sparkly felt.  I spread a thin layer of sparkly fabric paint on the wings and let dry before assembling.  Fabric paint works great for ears, claws, and facial features.

A perfect story to go along with these puppets is Raising Dragons, by Jerdine Nolen. This is one of that you will love as much as your kids. The prose will lead you into a southern drawl when you read it aloud, and the story will captivate you. A spunky girl who believes in magic, a family that believes in hard work and taking care of others... joy and a happy ending. A story that encourages young ones to follow their hearts and be true to themselves. I am keeping this one long after my kids fledge...

Another Dragon story choice is When a Dragon Moves In, by Jodi Moore and Howard McWilliam.  Nothing quite warms up a wintery bedtime than a beach story!  Here are oodles of fun times at a beach, written in a lively "If you give a mouse a cookie" style.  The usual topics are delightfully illustrated to spur on your own beach memories, such as building a castle, looking at tracks, swimming, eating, throwing sand, kite flying, book reading, and sibling rivalry. The fun is the dragon part and all the happy and detailed illustrations...The dragon is in all the scenes playing with the boy and defending him, but  is it real (yes! according to my younger son) or just his perspective (yes! according to my older son)?  No matter which way you decide, the fun is thinking about the power of imagination in the middle of happy, sandy memories. A perfect bedtime choice!

Dragon Finger Puppet Pattern

Knight Party: Dragon Fire Game & How to Make Fire Balls

Oh, no!  The friendly dragon that lives near our castle has lost his fire!  The dragon is feeling sad and grumpy!  Are there any brave knights that could deliver fire back to the dragon and save the castle? 

In this game, knights attempt to throw magic "fire" balls (from Merlin, of course!) into the dragon's mouth.  Dragon Finger puppets for all who attempt the brave deed!  Our puppets were hidden in dragon eggs (jewel easter eggs) with a couple of packages of smarties.  I had a helper secretly hide them while we were busy flinging fire...

Don't give me too much grief over the dragon... It was 10pm the night before the party and I still hadn't figured this game out.  Luckily, we had a supply of boxes, hot glue, paint, and imagination!  With more time, I would have made the dragon's face cuter!  As usual, the kiddos loved it anyway...

The photos don't do the fire balls justice!  They look really cool flying through the air with their flames dancing around. I will definitely be making these again.  Needed them for my son's space party a few years ago (COMETS!)...  Making these inspired the peek-a-boo groundhog puppets.

How to make fireballs

Materials:  shiny fabric (gold/black on back), red fabric (flannel remnant), ribbon (orange, red, and two kinds of yellow), bouncy ball

Now, insert bouncy ball!

Throw your flame!

Make a Flying Falcon- Paper Tube Craft and Game

Here's how to make the falcons we used in the falcon game at our knight party.

1)  Paint a paper tube gray (4.25 inches).
2)  Print out template and trace wings, head and tail onto gray paper
3)  Glue on tail and head using tacky glue. Use a rubberband to hold it in place while it dries.
4)  Glue wings on back and let dry.
5)  Trace feet template onto heavy tagboard, cut out, and paint yellow.
6)  Cut slit in bottom of tube that is slightly narrower than top of feet (about 1.25 inches).  Notch both sides of feet piece where indicated and bend in to insert into tube.  Unfold when feet are in the right place/tube is inside the notch. 
7) Reinforce feet/tube connection with tacky glue or hot glue.
8)  Hot glue magnets onto bottom of falcon feet.
9)  Paint additional features on falcon (beak, eyes, tail stripe, etc.)
10)  Bend/curl beak a little to give it a predator's curve.

Falcon Template For Paper Tube Craft and Activity

Knight Party: Dragon Cake

When I saw photos of this cake, I was sure this would be a hit with my son... It was! Perfect for a knight party and easy to make. Of course, theirs is much cuter than mine, but I'll post my humble creation to encourage you that it doesn't have to be "perfect" to be enjoyed!

The cake is cut from one cake mix/recipe baked in two 9" rounds.  Candy pieces for decoration include: gum drop claws, marshmallow/choc chip eyes, Hershey kiss nostrils, chocolate graham scales, fruit roll up tongue/wings.  Follow the link below...
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/fire-breathing-cake-687620/

Knight Party Game: Fly the Falcons!

Knights and falcons go together like... HISTORY!  For our Winter Knight's Tale party, we discussed how falcons get restless over winter, so it is critical that knights take them out of the castle to stretch their wings and catch some fresh grub!

In this game, knights work with a partner. The falcon is made of cardstock paper on a recycled cardboard tube. A string is stretched through the paper tube falcon from one knight to his/her partner.

To fly the falcon, the child nearest the bird must raise their end of the string up while the other child lowers their end to the floor, keeping the string taut, so that gravity glides the bird down the string. When the bird reaches the floor, the child nearest the falcon picks it up while raising his/her string high. When the child's partner has her/his end on the floor, the bird is ready to glide down the string again. (In this game, birds can fly backwards!)

It can be helpful to make a line on the floor (or use an object, like the "lance" foam insulation tube above) to keep the knights separated by a good distance. This helps them keep the string taut.

Once the kids get the hang of flying the falcon, it's time to go insect hunting. On the bottom of the falcon's outstretched feet is a hot-glued magnet. On the floor between the fliers are small popsicle sticks with stretchy/rubber insects rubberbanded to one side and magnets hot-glued to the other.

Challenge the knights to aim the falcon's descent to pick up the bug (magnet to magnet). All players get to keep a falcon and an insect for a prize!

Patterns/directions for making the falcon are on a separate post.

Note:  Of course, real knights would use hawks and larger falcons to go MAMMAL hunting. In this party game, we opted for a smaller, insect eating species because my boys didn't want to hunt rabbits or other furry "game" for their party.

Knight Party Game: Clean the Castle!

Over the fall, our castle became dirty... we'd take care of the spider webs later with our bow and arrows... But meanwhile, there were large centipedes taking over the walls...

Knights to the rescue!

It was their job to remove the centipedes, which they were happy to do, because they were gummy candy.

The creatures were hung by string from the ceiling.  The knights had to keep their hands behind their backs and use just their mouths to remove the centipedes. 

Much laughter and joy ensued from this simple party game!  It was a silly way to start the party!

Setting the stage for the next game... I asked, "would their be another way for knights to clear insects from the kingdom?"  The next game would be flying the falcons...

Knight Party Castle Invitations

There are zillions of castle/knight party invitations online, and though I wanted to make them myself, when I saw this one I really could have caved in... except, they were out of stock! And thus, another homely creation was launched....
http://www.announcingit.com/main/font.asp?pid=16732&catid=81


I kept the original shape but added opening doors. The cool thing about designing it this way is that the card stands on its own.

Inside was a clip art image from Microsoft Word, with a text box that had party time and location details as well as RSVP information.

On the back of the invitation, a small poem set our party mood and gave hints about our games.

For thank you notes, I included a photo of each child in  knight attire that could fit inside the castle doors.




The poem reads: 

When winter feasts are over

What’s a knight to do?

Rest until the snow melts?

Wait for something new?

Lances, swords and arrows

Are never quite at rest.

A knight must always practice

For future games and quests.

The dragon’s gotten restless,

The falcons need to fly,

So come to (name)’s party

And give your skills a try!

Knight Party Invitation Poem

Knight Party Game: Joust Practice With Lances!

"Here ye, hear ye," says the King. "It is time for the knights to show off their jousting skills!"

Object of game:  throw lance through golden hoop

How to play:  saddle up your horse, grab a lance, charge at target and toss lance through

Bystanders: cheer on their fellow knights with friendly bugle calls

Reward:  bugle, chocolate silver coins, and king finger puppets

What really happened... we had to play this indoors because it was snowing, so our space was cramped, the pictures were lousy, and the noise from the horns was really loud.  However, I'd do it all over again!  We're still playing the "joust"  game a month after our party. 

BUGLES

Materials needed:  1) cardboard tube (paper towel or wrapping paper), 2) top third of a 1 liter pop bottle, 3) handle from 1 gallon milk jug, 4) gray poster paint, 5) golden spray paint, 6) hot glue gun.  (Note that most of these materials were scavenged from my neighbor's recycling bins. Crazy lady!)

Although I had the parts painted in plenty of time before the party, I put off assembling them until the night before because the handles were the tricky part.  I ended up using a hot pad to hold the handle to the tube while the hot glue dried.  I would have added a bead of gold glitter glue or fabric paint around the seams to make them prettier.  However, they sufficed for the job!

JOUST TARGET

My plan was to make this with cardboard wardrobe moving boxes so a kid could go inside each end and blow their bugles out the windows.  I was going to decorate each box with paint and plastic table cloth to look like a little tent.  However, I couldn't find any used boxes. The 2"x2 " lumber pieces were less expensive than new boxes!  In the end, the wood frame pieces are easier to disassemble, store, and reuse (for play then house projects!) so I'm glad it worked out the way it did.

Materials needed:  four 8'x2"x2" lumber pieces, a large cardboard square, flag material, two 12" dowel pieces (any smallish diameter), two plastic table cloths, string, gold paint

For the frame, we sawed a tall (69") pole from each of 2 lumber pieces.  This left 2 pieces of about 27" that we would use for support.  From a third piece of lumber, we sawed two more 27" support pieces so we would have a total of 4, two for each pole.  We also sawed two 8" pieces for holding the crossbar at the top of each pole.  That left another 26" piece to spare.  The last 8' piece was the crossbar from which we would hang the target.

To assemble each pole, we arranged the support pieces into a T shape and fitted them together with screws on all sides until they were sturdy (see photo).  No wood pieces stick out on one side to minimize trip hazards...  because that's where the kids would be running through with their lances, their eyeballs on the target and not their feet!

We screwed the small 8" piece to each pole about 7" from the top. The crossbar rests on top of these.

Lastly, we drilled a hole wide enough to fit a small (12") dowel  in the top of each pole to add a flag for decoration.  The flags were easily sewn from a small fabric piece in the clearance remnant section of our local fabric store.  I cut the rectangular piece in two, hemmed all the sides, folded over the vertical edge to make a pocket for the dowel, and wha-la,  two triangle flags (10" hemmed vertically, 15" hemmed to point).  :)

The poles were decorated with a plastic table cloth.  I centered the cloth over the top of the pole, wrapped the royal purple duct tape around, then poked the dowel through.  I was going to add some golden and red streamers but ran out of time.

For the target, I traced large circular household items on the cardboard to make a nicely circular target (15" diameter) and then painted each side gold. The target attached to the crossbar with string. I adjusted the height of the target based on the height of the knight!  If I did this again, I'd either use a sturdier material or glue two rings together for double durability. The target held fine for the party but quickly drooped in week later play.

The lances were made from a pipe foam insulation tube striped in royal purple duct tape.  Pool noodles would be fine too, but I couldn't find any in January, not even at a thrift store! This worked out better though, as we will put them to their intended use when the boys are done with the game.

SOCK HORSE

For the stick horse and scooter horse, I fashioned sock horse heads from materials we had around the house:  stuffing from an old pillow, old socks, felt pieces, googly eyes, and ribbon.  I fitted the head over two dowels and duct-taped it on to the scooter.  For the stick horse, I just duct-taped the head to a large dowel stick. 

The kindergartners all chose to play the game with the stick horse, leaving the scooter to some of the 3rd graders.

It's almost embarrassing to post a picture of this horse-- but for those of you who are worried about the visual appeal of your humble projects, take a look at mine.  The kids were all deliriously happy with the game despite the homely creations!  Not a negative word was said!

A Winter's Knight Party: Putting it All Together

Our son requested a knight party for his birthday. I wasn't sure how this would go at first, since the party would be in January and most knightly games involve ACTION more suited to out-doors, but we brainstormed and came up with a plan...

I've posted the details of the party as separate entries. In this post, I'll connect it all together.  If you want more detail on a particular topic, see the menu under "knight party."  Let me know if you have any questions!

INVITATIONS

A simple castle shape with a sign above the castle doors that read: Please join us in celebrating (name) 6th Birthday! Inside the castle doors was a knight clipart image and text box with the party location, time, and RSVP details. With the doors open, the card stands on its own.

On the back of the invitation, a small poem set our party mood and gave hints about our games:

When winter feasts are over

What’s a knight to do?
Rest until the snow melts?
Wait for something new?

Lances, swords and arrows
Are never quite at rest.
A knight must always practice
For future games and quests.

The dragon’s gotten restless,
The falcons need to fly,
So come to (name)’s party
And give your skills a try!

For thank you notes, we included a photo of each child in knight attire that could fit inside the castle doors.


DECORATIONS

We hung a medieval looking flag by our front door to welcome guests. (I found some garden flag type materials in the remnants bin at my local fabric store. I sewed the edges tight to make a yellow rectangular flag. I then sewed on a red, medieval cross symbol with a zigzag stitch.) In the party rooms, we hung homemade banners made from cardstock and a rope-like silver tinsel garland from the dollar store. The yellow, red, and blue triangles cut from card stock were stapled to the garland. On every other triangle, was a glued cross symbol cut from the paper scraps.

We covered our cake/party table with a yellow plastic cloth. With purple plates, gold napkins, and goblets (plastic wine glasses from Target with self adhesive jewels from craft store), we really had a royal-looking, knightly gathering place! My kindergartener LOVED making the goblets. Our table center piece was a "fire lamp" found on ebay. I scattered some silver tinsel around the base of the lamp, then sprinkled the golden dots from the helmet construction for more pizazz.  On each plate were several sword shaped plastic food picks for grabbing fruit/cheese/snacks in medieval style.


The castles, stone full of swords, spider webs, falcons (extras were hanging in key locations), joust props, and dragon from the games also acted like decorations and gave our party place a great atmosphere.






COSTUMES


We decorated our guests, too! I sewed tunics from felt (red, blue or yellow). These were simple, over the head rectangles (13x18.5ish inches, or, two tunics out of 3/8 yard of 72" felt from fabric store). I added a neck hole, cut a narrow "D" shape for the arms, and added 1 foot of 1" silver ribbon to each side for ties.


Also, each knight was given a favor bags were made from brown remnant fabric. I sewed simple drawstring bags and added a long handle so the knights could wear the bag over their shoulder to collect prizes from the games as we went along.


The final part of the costume was a very cool helmet made from poster board found at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cool Knights section:  http://www.clevelandart.org/learn/Educator%20Programs.aspx
The visor really lifts! (Held by brass fasteners).




ACTIVITIES AND GAMES


1) Decorate your own shield craft A perfect way to keep our guests busy while waiting for everyone to arrive.... I cut shield shapes out of medium sized cardboard boxes and hot glued a 1" strip to the back for handles (add some duct tape for extra security). I just set out the markers and let them at it. Some of the boys were really into their art, others did something quick. However, they ALL enjoyed their shields and eagerly took them home. We didn't use the shields until the end of the party, so a couple of kids returned to add more decoration at different points of the party.


2) Cleaning the Castle: Centipedes Game Over the fall, our castle had became dirty... there were large centipedes taking over the walls... Knights to the rescue! It was their job to remove the centipedes, which they were happy to do, because they were gummy candy. The creatures were hung by string from the ceiling. The knights had to keep their hands behind their backs and use just their mouths to remove the centipedes. Much laughter and joy ensued from this simple party game! It was a silly way to start the party and help the kids get over their new-place jitters! Setting the stage for the next game... I asked, "would their be another way for knights to clear insects from the kingdom?" Each knight received a homemade felt knight finger puppet for their favor bag.


3) Flying Falcons Game Knights and falcons go together like... HISTORY! We discussed how the falcons that knight's used to fly get restless over winter, so it is critical that knights take them out of the castle to stretch their wings and catch some fresh grub! In this game, knights work with a partner. The falcon is made of cardstock paper with painted details on a recycled cardboard tube. A string is stretched through the paper tube falcon from one knight to his/her partner. To fly the falcon, the child nearest the bird must raise their end of the string up while the other child lowers their end to the floor, keeping the string taut, so that gravity glides the bird down the string. Once the kids got the hang of flying the falcon, it was time to go insect hunting. On the bottom of the falcon's outstretched feet was a hot-glued magnet. On the floor between the fliers were small popsicle sticks with stretchy/rubber insects rubberbanded to one side and magnets hot-glued to the other. (Of course, real knights would use hawks and larger falcons to go MAMMAL hunting. In this party game, we opted for a smaller, insect eating species because my boys didn't want to hunt rabbits or other furry "game" for their party.) Each knight collected a squishy bug for their favor bag from this game.


4) Storm the Castle Catapult Game The knights flung tiny boulders from miniture catapults at a castle cut out and retreived a "boulder" (bouncy ball) for their favor bag. I mostly followed the directions for making a teeny tiny catapult from http://www.stormthecastle.com/catapult/teeny-tiny-catapult/make-the-teeny-tiny-catapult1.htm , but substituted colored duct tape for all but the hinge, thinking that kindergartners might be hard on regular masking tape. I also used craft sticks rather than popsicle sticks. So, I had to adjust the dimensions a bit as craft sticks are wider than popsicle sticks. For "boulders", I cut squares out of a dark green piece of packing foam (soft) that I had lying around. I snipped the edges to give them a cut-stone look and soaked them in a paste of corn starch and baking soda to add weight. I didn't want the knights to fire at each other, trying to keep this as non-violent as possible, so I made two castle targets out of foam board. The knights were having so much fun targeting the castle (windows, open doors) that firing against each other never came up.




5) Clean the Castle: Spider Webs! Outside the castle had gotten full of spider webs throughout the fall. Could the knights help clean them off using a bow and arrow?


I drew spider web targets with a silver pen on black cardstock. I taped the cardstock onto cardboard box sides (the ends of the boxes from making shields) to make them sturdy, and stood two cans of food behind to weight them. My plan was to stand them up on our deck railing outside and let the kids take turn shooting at it. However, it was snowing heavily, so we shot the bows and arrows inside, with the targets set on the couch. This worked just fine, but was a bit squishy for elbow room. Usually, bows are made from a strong but flexible piece of wood and a sturdy string. Ours were made from a sturdy, inflexible stick and rubber bands looped together.  We used pencil-width wooden dowels for the arrows. The ends were notched so they could better fit/grip the rubber band string. The knights recieved a lego bow and arrow piece for their favor bag (from pick-a-brick online). (Note: this game was a parent/kid compromise. Kids wanted a bow and arrow game, mom wanted non-violent alternatives, so shooting at spider webs was our compromise!)


6) Feed the Dragon Game (The kids insisted that we didn't play a game that would hurt the dragon.) Oh, no! The friendly dragon that lives near our castle has lost his fire! The dragon is feeling sad and grumpy! Are there any brave knights that could deliver fire back to the dragon and save the castle? In this game, our knights attempted to throw magic "fire" balls (from Merlin, of course!) into the dragon's mouth. Dragon eggs for all who attempt the brave deed (I hid dragon puppets and some candy in large easter eggs that looked like jewels and a parent helped me hide them in another room while we were throwing fire).


I assembled a dragon from boxes and hot glue. The dragon's mouth was open, with teeth made of regular paper, so the knights would be able to throw the fire in. I made fire balls just big enough to fit a bouncy ball inside (basically a red pocket with "flames" sewn in the edges from black, red, and gold remnant fabric with yellow, orange and red ribbons for effect). The knights put their bouncy balls from the catapult game in and took turns tossing the fire into the dragon. The fireballs were my favorite creation of the party.. .they look really cool flying through the air with their flames dancing around. I will definitely be making these again!


7) Joust Game With Lances "Here ye, hear ye," says the King. "It is time for the knights to show off their jousting skills!" Object of game: throw lance through golden hoop


How to play: saddle up your horse, grab a lance, charge at target and toss lance through
Bystanders: cheer on their fellow knights with friendly bugle calls
Reward: bugle, chocolate silver coins, and king finger puppets


First I made bugles for the bystanders from 1) cardboard tube (paper towel or wrapping paper), 2) top third of a 1 liter pop bottle, 3) handle from 1 gallon milk jug, 4) gray poster paint, 5) golden spray paint, 6) hot glue gun.


To make the joust target, we made a wood frame from 2"x2" lumber pieces.  The frame was decorated with red flags sewn from a small fabric piece and draped with blue and yellow plastic table cloths. The target was a cardboard loop painted gold. 


The lances were made from a pipe foam insulation tube striped in royal purple duct tape.
For the stick horse and scooter horse, I fashioned sock horse heads from materials we had around the house: stuffing from an old pillow, old socks, felt pieces, googly eyes, and ribbon. I fitted the head over two dowels and duct-taped it on to the scooter. For the stick horse, I just duct-taped the head to a large dowel stick. The kindergartners all chose to play the game with the stick horse, leaving the scooter to some of the 3rd graders.


8) Sword In the Stone Game What would a knight party be without swords?  Instead of just handing the swords out to the knights, I put them in a "stone" that made from the box the swords were shipped in. I used a sponge and several shades of gray paint to give it a rock like look. The kids didn't seem to care if it mostly still looked like a cardboard box. They really roll with it when you get their imaginations going! I told them the story of Merlin and the sword in the stone and challenged them to see if they could become king by pulling the swords out. Of course they could, and I gave them a merlin finger puppet to help remember the story. The weather did eventually clear, so I first let the kids try out the swords as boys do, against each other. They had great fun chasing each other and employing their shields and helmets. When the excitement notched down a bit, I brought out red/yellow/blue balloons for the boys to target. This was a GREAT idea..they would have continued for dozens of balloons, I'm sure. It was a relief for everyone to focus their energy on the balloons instead of each other! The kids played with their swords until their parents came to pick them up.




CAKE AND PARTY SNACKS


We took a cake and present break between games 6 and 7 above. When I saw photos of a dragon cake on family fun (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/fire-breathing-cake-687620/), I was sure this would be a hit with my son... It was! Perfect for a knight party and easy to make. Of course, theirs is much cuter than mine, but the kids loved it anyway...It is cut from one cake mix/recipe baked in two 9" rounds and frosted in green. Candy pieces for decoration include: gum drop claws, marshmallow/choc chip eyes, Hershey kiss nostrils, chocolate graham scales, fruit roll up tongue/wings. Also on the table were bowls of fruit (grapes and strawberries) and snacks (cheetohs and pretzels). At each place setting was a chocolate champagne bottle and a star lollipop (blue and yellow).

FAVORS

Each knight got to take home their costume (tunic, favor bag, sword, helmet, shield), finger puppets (knight, king, dragon), fire ball (bouncy ball inside), lego pieces, chocolate coins, lollipop, goblet, bugle, and bow with arrows. Additionally, the king distributed jewels (plastic diamond shapes) as a final thank you for their hard work as our guests left.

CONCLUSION

I had two very tuckered out knights after this event, Birthday Boy and his big brother. One tuckered out Mom, too. But boy did we have a great time making forever memories. My son's eyes shone with glee the whole time. And guess what? One of guests wore his costume to show and tell at kindergarten the next week! And knights still play in costume at our end of the neighborhood...

Knight Party Favors: King Felt Finger Puppet

Hear ye, hear ye!  Here is the King!  Golden trim makes a great royal crown, fuzzy fabric give great texture to the hair, and a short piece of golden ribbon embellishes the King’s robe.  Eyes and mouth are made from fabric paint. 

King Finger Puppet Pattern

Knight Felt Finger Puppets

Knight Felt Finger Puppet Pattern

Knight Party: Storm the Castle Catapult Game

What kind of knight games can you play for a winter, likely indoors, Knight Party?  Are there instructions somewhere on the web for a catapult you could make and use inside... like on a table?

Yes, yes, yes!  After a little searching, I found exactly what I was looking for, here:

http://www.stormthecastle.com/catapult/teeny-tiny-catapult/make-the-teeny-tiny-catapult1.htm

I mostly followed the directions for making a teeny tiny catapult, but substituted colored duct tape for all but the hinge, thinking that the kindergartners might be hard on regular masking tape. I also used craft sticks rather than popsicle sticks. So, I had to adjust the dimensions a bit as craft sticks are wider than popsicle sticks.

For "boulders", the directions say to use crumpled paper. I wanted something a little more festive for the party, so I cut squares out of a dark green piece of packing foam (soft) that I had lying around.  I snipped the edges to give them a cut-stone look.  However, when I test fired them, they were too light to fly.  This was the morning of the party, AACK!  I quickly soaked them in a paste of corn starch and baking soda then set them on the heater to dry.   This worked great!  The added weight was just perfect, and the white color with green foam underneath looked even more like mini-boulders.  One drawback though:  the coating comes off the boulders as white dust eventually.

I didn't want the boys to fire at each other, trying to keep this as non-violent as possible, so I made two castle targets. The knights were having so much fun targeting the castle that firing against each other never came up.  Actually, it still hasn't, even though the catapults are still up/played with a month after the party.

For a castle, the "stormthecastle" site has directions and an example. I made our two castles from one piece of foam board and a craft knife (exacto-blade).  Again, the kiddos really don't seem to care about the quality of the art.... They just had a blast (literally) firing the boulders.  I didn't assign points for the targets (windows, etc.). We made a big hurrah for all the shots and everyone got a prize (knight finger puppet and cool looking bouncy ball/catapult boulder that we would use in a later game.

Castle Parts0001

Knight Party: Sword in a Stone Game

What would a knight party be without swords?  I found ours discounted on-line, but wouldn't you know it, I saw shorter versions at Target's $1 aisle a couple weeks ago. Grrr!

Instead of just handing the swords out to the knights, I put them in a "stone" that I made from the box the swords were shipped in.  I used a sponge to give it a rock like look.  The kids didn't seem to care if it mostly still looked like a cardboard box.  They really roll with it when you get their imaginations going!

I told them the story of Merlin and the sword in the stone and challenged them to see if they could become king by pulling the swords out.  Of course they could, and I gave them a merlin finger puppet to help remember the story.

My original plan was to hide the stone and leave out 3 linking clues from Merlin to lead the knights to the stone.  However, I ran out of time and the weather kept us indoors... not many places to hide the big stone with all the other activities going on. In the end, pulling the swords out was enough for them... they couldn't wait for action!

As for ACTION.... The weather did eventually clear, so I first let the kids try out the swords as boys do, against each other. They had great fun chasing each other and employing their shields and helmets.  When the excitement notched down a bit, I brought out red/yellow/blue balloons for the boys to target. This was a GREAT idea..they would have continued for dozens of balloons, I'm sure.  It was a relief for everyone to focus their energy on the balloons instead of each other!