Caleb had mixed feelings about arriving at a real castle in the 12th century in Caleb and the Incredible Counting Machine. Which is understandable, as they weren’t designed to look very welcoming!

Here are some activities that introduce you to why a real life castle may not be a place you wanted to get inside in a hurry…

Activity 1 – On the Defensive

Medieval castles were packed full of defensive features. Here is your chance to test whether you know your portcullis from your crenellations! Print out the picture and fill in the missing labels and parts of the picture. It would look very impressive on your bedroom door if you coloured it in – maybe then people would get the message that they should keep out!

Do send me a scan of your finished colouring in. I’d love to see it!

Activity 2 – Horrible Hosts

Another reason you may not feel very welcome in a castle is that your host might not be the nicest of people… Medieval kings had a lot of power and tended to be pretty ruthless.

Here is a gallery of some famous kings from medieval times. Who do you think is the most horrible? Is it a title our very own Prince John deserves for himself? We do need to be careful, though, about judging others when we don’t know much about the situation they were in and the struggles they faced. There is only one person who understands enough to judge fairly… and that is God!

Unfortunately things have got a bit jumbled up. Can you cut out the pictures, dates and facts and put them in the right order? The stone pattern will help you! (OK, so it is a lot of cutting – maybe time to challenge an adult to see if their cutting skills are as good as they think they are!)