Knights and Castles (First Reading, Level 4)

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Castles have been built for around 900 years and originated in the 9th and 10th centuries. Earth and timber was originally used to build castles, but later, these materials were replaced by stone. This could be combined with the above activity of building a castle making it cross curricular between history, geography and DT. Curriculum Notes Use these castle pictures as role-play inspiration, discussion starters, writing prompts, and much more! Why not try our Craigmillar Castle word search activity too? Drawbridge: Could be raised and lowered when necessary. It was used to protect the castle from invaders.

Windsor Castle is England's largest castle. It was originally built out of wood by William the Conqueror between 1070 and 1086. Sally: Each knight family had a coat of arms: a special picture that told a story about their family and the place they came from. Everything in the coat of arms is like a little story and means something special. Fantastic Fun with Learning read the book The Queen of France and shared how to make a fabulous rose crown and going on a rose hunt – wonderful to see the blooms in the photo’s on the blog and such a fun activity involving different sense pop on by and find out how to make the crown. Sally: Yes, the armour was very heavy and very important, as it helped protect the knights from swords and arrows. It was made of two layers: chainmail - which is armour made of lots of metal hoops linked together - was often placed in areas that needed to move easily. Over the chain mail they had more armour made of sheets of metal to protect the really important places, like a helmet to protect their heads and a breastplate to protect their chest.A medieval castle had two purposes: it was both a fortification and the home of a lord. The first castles were just earthwork enclosures.

Castles and knights are often taught as a topic in Year 1 or 2. Children will learn all about what castles were used for and the role of knights. Fatima: So I've seen lots of castles in books and on the Internet, but it will be great to know a bit more about what makes a castle, a castle. The curtained wall was one of the castle’s most important defensive feature. At first, it was just a wall with a crenelated parapet but over time the defences were developed and more towers were added. During the video, the teacher can stop and ask pupils to think about what they would do in each circumstance. The portcullis was the spiked barrier which protected the doors from fire and battering. It was made from metal or woof and could be lowered by chains.

The Twinkl promise is that our resources are by teachers for teachers (or anyone looking to teach/learn) so you can be guaranteed of their accuracy, relevance to the intended age group (In this instance, Year 1 & Year 2) plus their relevance to the National Curriculum. Where did the words 'castle' & 'knight' come from?