Montwell+Manor+Medieval+Faire

Many years earlier, a homeschooler had held a little mini-medieval fair and invited other homeschoolers to come and participate. Our culture studies group had done that and I remembered how much fun it was. So the year we studied the Middle Ages, I broached the idea with the moms about having the kids put on a “Faire” at the end of the year, to share what they had learned about. Everyone thought it sounded like a good idea so we approached the kids. They liked the idea too.

We had already done a similar event (see the mini-unit on Government and Politics) so the kids had a relatively good idea that it was going to take a lot of work and planning. All us moms did our best to let the kids take charge, as much as possible, but there was still a lot of guidance needed. I’ve attached a series of e-mail messages ([|Planning process.doc]) that chronicle some of the planning that went on, and how we tried to help the kids think things through and make good decisions. I think they did a very good job!

It helped that we had a good place to do this—my home which is set in a woodsy area, well apart from neighbors and with a relatively large yard. One of our planning sessions involved where to set all the different activities up, so I gave all the kids a map and had them try to picture how things should be arranged. Here’s a before: [|MAP.jpg] and an after [|map2.jpg]. That same day we did a lot of preparation work (see our plan for the day here: preparations still needed.doc). Many weeks went into the preparation of our kids’ roles, their costumes, their “activity,” other activities, various crafts, the décor, and practice for the performances.

After lots of planning and throwing around of ideas we finally had our day planned. Each of our kids took on a role to play (so I called them “players”). Guests were asked to dress appropriately and to bring a “medieval dish” to share. We ended up with mostly young children, though we’d hoped to have more tweens and teens. Still, we made it very fun while being educational. Moms pitched in to help create decorations, food, costumes and all sorts of things. One mom did beautiful banners for each of the players.



I did some work around our house to get ready, too—we needed to do a little cleaning of course. I also made some dyes ([] for some ideas) and baked some whole wheat bread (originally I’d hoped to make trenchers but that got too complicated!) We set up a couple of pop-up trash bins near the food, which was set up in a cook tent on our deck.

We asked people to sign up ahead of time so we knew what age kids would be there and about how many to plan for. We also sent specific directions to my house and for little things they needed to know about ([|Directions for guests.doc])

Basically, we had 3 hours in an afternoon (we wanted the morning for set-up). The first hour gave everyone a chance to try lots of different activities based on their interests, with a little bit of entertainment thrown in. The second hour was the serious learning time, when all activities were closed and the guests went from “player” to “player.” A questing sheet that they got when they first arrived led them to ask at least one question from each of the players. Hour three started off with a puppet show and then more activities, some a repeat of the first hour. The hour ended with eating food from the feast provided by our guests!

Here are the things we did, with a little bit of info about how we pulled them together: Hour 1: Our welcome table was set up so we had someone to give out the Questing Parchments ([|parchment.pdf]) as guests arrived and someone to use the sealing wax to give them the final “seal” when they left. They also got a schedule of things to do and when certain things would happen ([|block schedule.doc]). We also had a couple of kids to take the food back to the food tent we had set up on our deck. The Game of Medieval Life: This was a game to focus in on the daily life of people in the Middle Ages. This game was set up with various roles you could take, then various stations along the way of your life where you picked randomly something that happened to you. This gives you a bit of an idea how it went ([|MEDIEVAL Game of Life.doc]). The kids who ran it made all the prizes and activities. The idea was that you could play multiple parts so you wanted the kids to be able to go through a role in just a few minutes. Tilting practice: We created a dummy (called a quintain) that swiveled (thank goodness for a husband who is an engineer and tinkers!) when you hit its shield and had lots of those hollow pool noodles to use as tilts. Flower hairpieces: All the young girls and their moms could get a free flower headpiece made with silk flowers and ribbons. Ribbon Stick Toy: kids made ribbon sticks, using small dowels with a bead glued onto the end and several small thin ribbons. Make a catapult: We had catapults made from cardboard. Make a coat of arms: We had pieces of cardboard cut into shield shapes and with rope holders glued onto the back. We set up several directions on the meaning of the different parts of a shield (from here: []) and printed out large pictures of crests (from here: []) the guests could choose (these they colored and glued on to the shields). Sandcastles: We had a small sandbox, wet down the sand a bit and put in “castle” molds so the very youngest guests could just play around (we also had a swing set that was very popular). Some coloring pages were available for young kids who wanted to do quiet activities. Playmobile Castle: This was set up as a display so kids could see how a castle was built Entertainment: We had a choreographed sword fight and our “bandits” swooped in to steal the “purses” of the two knights who were fighting. We also had some strolling singers who had a song book of some authentic songs and some not so authentic (see [|songbook.pdf]). Chess: We had a big tree stump that was fairly new, so we painted a chess board pattern on it and used very medieval looking chess pieces.



Hour 2: For the Questing Parchment, the kids went to their various tents or stations set up around the yard. Each had a role to play and some sort of activity and “talk” to give about their role. We mainly had townspeople and manor people, but a few “roving” folks and peasants. See the preparations still needed.doc for the details of what each player did. Some areas had to be specially arranged—the archery area was set up next to a back wall, with hay bales to hold paper targets.

Hour 3: For our puppet show, one of the families had a set of puppets and a script for St. George and The Dragon ([|St George play.doc]). We draped a blanket over the side of our deck railing to make a puppet theatre.

Maypole dance: Our maypole was made from a tetherball pole topped with a flower arrangement and long ribbons. We used a very simple dance, so we could teach it easily (something like this one: []) During the whole event we played some music on an outside stereo system (that engineer husband again), most of it from a CD I’d found called Music from the Time of Shakespeare. You can probably download all kinds of things now and play them. During the Maypole dance, we turned up the music quite loudly. Javelin throw: We set up a large sheet near the woods strung on a rope between trees so that the javelins (bamboo poles) wouldn’t go into the woods (poison ivy!). We had some hula hoops hung so the kids could try to get the poles through the hoops. Eat and drink: We set up lemonade and water stands (huge drink coolers and lots of ice), and then let everyone try the various treats.

As everyone left, we reminded them to take their dishes, their crafts, and to get their Questing Parchment stamped with sealing wax.

After all the preparation and hard work, the kids had a chance to play around after all their guests had left, chilling out. The next week, we did a quick overview of all the things we thought went great and all the things we would change “next time.”



To see some more pictures, click on this page!