The Castles
Project
Panel compiled by Juliet Evans
December 2004
Castle by Aneka Castles by Thomas
From early on in the school year, the children were excited
about dressing up using the costumes found in the dramatic play area. A group
of boys regularly put on cowboy hats and made Lego swords in order to play the
Three Musketeers, while other children would dress up and pretend to be
princesses, kings and knights. All enjoyed riding the new hobby horses at
outside time.
The focus of our project was deliberately very wide, so as to include all children’s interests. It encompassed musketeers, knights, princesses, dragons and horses.
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When asked what they knew about these things, the children
made the following comments:
We sit on horses. They help people to go fast.
All the children want to ride horses.
Queens are mommies of princesses.
Knights have swords and shields. A
knight was fighting a dragon.
He put the sword in the dragon.
Dragons can bite off your hand. They breath fire.
Dramatic Play
The children were invited to act out a group story while dressed up in their favorite costume. They sat down together to plan how their story will develop.
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Alejandro:
Which princess are we going to rescue? Paola, Loren and Aneka raise their
hands. Teacher: Where are the
princesses going to be? Paola:
In the dragon’s tower, at the top of the
castle, where the flag is. Alejandro: And are
they going to die, or what? Paola: Yes, because
the dragon comes quickly. Sergio, you want to be the dragon?
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The princesses hide in the castle waiting for the dragon. Alejandro: We’ve
arrived, princesses. Sergio: I’m the
dragon. Crouch down so I don’t get fire on
you. Paola: Princesses
don’t crouch, right?
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Dramatic play continued outside of the classroom.
After making crowns to wear, the girls used the blocks to build a bed large enough for all the princesses.
Loren built a “flower castle” for her horse, while some boys lined up their horses along the wall.
Observing
and learning more
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To learn more about castles, dragons, princesses, horses and knights, we looked in books and the children brought in some of their toys from home.
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In the absence of real castles, dragons, musketeers or princesses, we used these toys to do observational drawings and to build our own castles. |
Castles by Ricardo, Camila and Miranda
Horse by Loren Dragon by Nicholas
Musketeer by Alejandro Dragon by Sergio Prince and princess by Monica
Reality
vs. Fantasy
I presented the children with images and information about real castles and royal families, both historical and modern, which the children represented in different ways.
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| “The father se murió and Tutankhamen king” by Alejandro | “The princess likes to sing” Princess Stefanie of
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| Shoichi drew a Japanese castle and Princess Masako of |
A European-style castle |
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Then we read many fictional stories and encouraged the children to write their own. |
The following examples are responses to stories by Camila, Loren, Ana Sofia and Thomas.
Final
Thoughts
Towards the end of the project, the children were asked some questions to assess the depth of their understanding.
Their responses were as follows:
How do you become a musketeer?
You
practice sword-fighting on a doll made of straw.
Why do knights have armor?
To look good.
So the dragon doesn’t burn them.
So
they don’t get hurt or killed.
What do dragons eat?
Food
from the house.
No, people!
Why are some dragons bad?
Because they want to eat people.
What do princesses wear?
They have lots of dresses for going to
parties.
Some go running in shorts.
And some wear saris.
Why are castles made of
stone?
So
nobody breaks them.
Why
do people want to break the castle?
Because they want to live in the castle and
be rich.
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Sleeping princess by Aneka |