Our history topic for this half term is castles. Have you visited a castle before with your family? Perhaps you can talk to your grown ups about it and try to remember what it was like. What was the castle called? What did it look like? What did you like/not like about it. Maybe you have photographs that you can look at to remind you. Or perhaps you have a non fiction book about castles or a story book. You could look at the pictures of it and talk about what you can see. If you don’t have any of these things then we have plenty of information for you so don’t worry!!

The first kind of castle was called a Motte and Bailey castle. You can see a picture of one here. Can you read the labels and find out what all the parts were called and used for?

The Motte and Bailey castle was made out of wood. Eventually castles were made out of stone. This meant it was stronger and more difficult for enemies to attack and get inside.

 Have a look at the photographs of different castles, there may be ones that you have visited. What is the same/different about them. Which do you like the best?

Stone castles were designed and built with lots of different parts. These all have special names and jobs. This powerpoint that tells you the names of these and why they are important.

Now you know what castles look like and have learned about the different parts. Would you like to have a go at making your own castle? Watch this video!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGH2bteGpTA

You don’t have to make yours exactly like the one on the video. You could draw a design for your castle first. Perhaps label the different parts. Give your castle a name. Design a flag to go on top even. Choose which colour you want your castle to be.

You might decide that you want to use playdough or Lego to make your castle with. Don’t forget to take a photograph and email Mrs Dempsey, Mrs Ogden or Mrs Gill to show us. We’d love to see them. Have fun!