Awaken your class's creativity with this Castles KS1 Topic Enrichment Pack! It offers seven engaging lessons spanning Art, DT and Music, thoughtfully designed to support your teaching and foster essential cross-curricular skills.

Your class will:

• Explore the Bayeux Tapestry, create their own castle prints and recreate watercolour castles in the style of James Paterson
• Design, make and evaluate medieval tools and model castles
• Find out about medieval instruments and play simple compositions.

Whether you’re looking to enrich your existing Castles KS1 topic or deliver a mini cross-curricular project, this downloadable pack provides everything you need—lesson plans, slides, activity ideas and resources!

You may also like our Castles Topic Bundle containing four ready-to-teach schemes of work all themed around castles. Great for cross-curricular teaching! 

Bayeux Tapestry

This first Art lesson introduces your class to the Bayeux Tapestry. Children will look in detail at the Bayeux Tapestry as they learn about how and why it was made, and the story it tells.

In their independent activities, children will use the tapestry to create pictures using lines and blocks of colours to create their own versions.

This Bayeux Tapestry KS1 Art lesson contains an easy-to-follow plan, a PDF slideshow, a range of printable teaching resources and differentiated activity ideas.

View Art Lesson 1

Castle Engravings

During this Art lesson your class will examine castle engravings. They will explore the work of the Buck brothers, looking closely at some of their famous engravings, including Picton Castle.

In their independent activities, your class will develop their use of lines to create pictures as they make castle prints using foam, or explore how to draw castles using a range of different pencil marks.

This Castle Engravings KS1 downloadable lesson pack contains a plan, a PDF slideshow for the teaching input, printable resources and differentiated activity ideas.

View Art Lesson 2

Watercolour Castles

Your class will develop their use of colour when recreating watercolour castles in the style of James Paterson, and will look closely at the watercolour painting of Drumlanrig Castle.

In this lesson, children will develop their observational skills, as well as their skill of mixing colours. They will be introduced to the terms 'shade' and 'tint' and be encouraged to think carefully about the colours they are using when painting.

An easy-to-follow plan, a set of PDF slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and printable resources are all included in this Watercolour Castles KS1 Art pack.

View Art Lesson 3

Designing Medieval Tools

This designing medieval tools KS1 DT lesson focuses on identifying the features and purposes of a range of a medieval tools and weapons.

Your class will have the option of designing a product based on given design criteria, or making a catapult and then designing a way to make it easy to move it around!

Everything you need to teach this Designing Medieval Tools KS1 DT lesson is included in this pack - an easy-to-follow plan, a set of PDF slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and printable resources.

View DT Lesson 1

Model Castles

During this design and make a castle KS1 lesson, your class will explore a variety of different castle features. They will look at examples of ways to make castle parts using different modelling materials.

Your class are then challenged to use this knowledge to design and make a castle keep to meet a specific design criteria, or build a whole motte and bailey castle.

An engaging set of PDF slides, an easy-to-follow plan, activity ideas and printable resources are all included in this Model Castles KS1 downloadable pack.

View DT Lesson 2

Medieval Instruments

In this first music lesson, your class will first listen to medieval music and think about how the instruments are played. They will have the opportunity to play with the modern-day versions of the instruments and follow non-verbal instructions to play in unison.

They will have the opportunity to play with the modern-day versions of the instruments and follow non-verbal instructions to play in unison.

This ready-to-teach medieval instruments KS1 lesson includes a plan, slideshow and engaging teaching resources all in a downloadable pack.

View Music Lesson 1

Composing Music

In this lesson, your class will think about how a composed piece of music is different from the music they played in the first music lesson.

Children will follow a simple notation to play their instruments to a rhythm and have the opportunity to create their own pieces of composed music using the easy-to-use printable resources.

This ready-to-teach downloadable pack includes a lesson plan, a set of PDF slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and printable resources.

View Music Lesson 2