Free Printable Castles, Medieval History paper crafts

Cut and paste activities make ideal educational tools. 3D models and dioramas are excellent book activities for reading response lessons. How about some free printable paper castles and 3D castle models for kids? This article includes free printable coat of arms patterns and designs for heraldry crafts to decorate.

Here are free printable cut and paste paper crafts of castle models of Neuschwanstein Castle in the Clouds. This German Cinderella castle is the poster child for fairytale castles. Neuschwanstein is one of the late Medieval castles in baroque renaissance style.

Here’s a website with tons of cool medieval stuff! There are free printable paper crafts of castles, a crossbow, knights, jousting, archery, medieval navigation and more. Visit  Storm the Castle. Print Assassin's Creed and Game of Thrones paper crafts too. 

Use these free printable castle models for dioramas, history lessons, engineering and design history lessons. Make these free printable castles part of a social studies unit on medieval times. It's always good in any unit to incorporate as many different subject areas. Cutting and assembling paper crafts adds science and math components to units. Students may want to design and color medieval castles before construction.

Now how about some free printable medieval castles, paper crafts and coloring pages? Visit--if only virtually--Skipton Castle in Yorkshire, England. Built in the 12th century Skipton Castle is beautifully preserved. The website includes free printable castle models paper crafts, knights, activities on kitchens of medieval castles, Elizabethan lord and lady and more free printable heraldry activities. DL-TK has a bunch more free printable medieval fantasy crafts.

What's heraldry, you ask? Heraldry refers to the crest or emblem associated with royal and noble families. Here are free printable coat of arms coloring pages.  These ancient symbols, also called family crests or coat of arms were used as ornamentation and communication, on battlements, flags, armor and weapons. A coat of arms, worn on shields, signified who led the army. Here are activities to make your own coat of arms. 

Free Printable Marco Polo Lesson Plans, Kubla Khan, Silk Road, Spice Road

Follow the 13th century trail of Marco Polo into the legendary Mongolian kingdom of the Kubla Khan and discover the wonder of spice, silk, tea, ivory, jade and porcelain as well as the hospitality of a true oriental nobleman, the Khan. Information based on Il Milione (the diary of Marco Polo's travels). Games, crafts, interactive and cross curricular activities, free printable lesson plans. Includes literature, poetry, science, economics and social studies lessons. 

In the 1200s, Marco Polo traveled in medieval times to explore the magical Xanadu, summer palace of the Mongol leader Kubla Khan (son of Ghengis Khan). Polo brought back exotic spices, jade, silk and strange beasts (elephants) to the western world. His travels ushered in the Silk Road and Spice Road trade systems. Marco Polo wrote about his travels in "Il Milione" or "The Travels of Marco Polo." Read his biography in social studies and have students create a character map for interactive biography lesson plans. 

For geography and history lesson plans, follow the travels of Marco Polo. Here's a freeprintable map of the Marco Polo expedition, which became the Silk Road. Expand it and attach it to a cheap roll up window shade to make a Silk Road map for social studies lesson plans. Have students color and label map and make icons to symbolize elements of the Marco Polo story. 

For biography, literature and culture lesson plans, explore the history of Kublai Khan and the rise of the Mongol Empire under Ghengis Khan. Have students create a Facebook profile for Marco Polo, Ghengis or Kublai Khan to put their lives into modern perspective.

Mr. Donn offers free printable Marco Polo lesson plans and activities on the Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan, geared for lower elementary to middle school students. ABC teach has free printable MarcoPolo lessons. Activities cover Kublai Khan, Xanadu and the travels in the Mongol Empire. These lessons work well students in grades 4-8. 

Here's a more descriptive discussion on Xanadu andMongol Empire with re-enactors dressed in Mongolian battle dress and villagers costumes. There are images of artifacts from the Kublai Khan dynasty which students could make replicas of. Last, for creative writing and art lesson plans, have students draw what they imagine the Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan may have looked like using Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Xanadu, the Ballad of Kubla Khan. This would be perfect literature lesson plans for National Poetry Month in April.