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!
Medieval Castles 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!
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.
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.
The inside of the castle had a large Great Hall, Guard tower, and dungeon. We’ve had so much fun with this project!
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
We couldn’t be in the Medieval time period without dressing the part now could we! 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. 
We also dyed silk 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.
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
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.
Other Fun Activities to expand the Medieval Theme:
- Medieval Times Meal & Tournament
- 4 & 20 Blackbirds Pie Activity for Toddlers
- Marshmallow Shooters
- Shake up some butter (our activity plus complete instructions)
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.
4 Week Homeschool Medieval Unit
Additional Resources
- Early Explorers Unit – 5 Week Hands-On Homeschool History Unit with {free} printable
- Colonial America Unit – 4 Week Hands-On Homeschool History Unit with {free} printable focusing on the early American settlers
- American Revolutionary War – 4 Week Hands-On Homeschool History unit with {free} lapbook
- 100+ {FREE} Pintables by Subject
- Homeschooling 101 – Everything you need to get you started homeschooling with lots of resources and tips
