Gothic Architecture, Cathedrals, and Rose Window craft

This was one of the coolest crafts we've done! We got the idea from here and since we had a bunch of old CDs lying around, I thought it sounded like the perfect use for them. We looked at pictures of rose windows and talked about radial symmetry and some of the symbolic patterns and numbers that the craftsmen of the time wove into their work. 

We watched this movie about rose windows, and also really liked this NOVA special on cathedrals.

If you've never tried it, you may not realize how fun it is to draw on CDs with Sharpies. Especially for my children, who are never, never allowed to use my Sharpies! :) We had so much fun doing it that we made several "rose windows" each, and we thought the nicest-looking ones were the ones that used a lot of black to define the edges of the pattern.

After we colored our windows, we glued some of them to paper and drew Cathedrals around them. We also set several on a windowsill and enjoyed the way the sunlight came through. They are not quite like actual stained glass, but they definitely let some light through and are beautiful. We also thought it was so cool how an image of the window pattern was reflected onto the wall when we tilted the CD in the sunlight just right!

Note the apostles (not quite 12 of them) above Malachi's cathedral entrance---and the spitting gargoyle on our right

Romanesque Architecture---making castles

To learn about Romanesque architecture, we talked about several Romanesque/Norman-style castles and monasteries. We loved David Macaulay's book Castle to go along with this discussion. Then, of course, we wanted to make our own Romanesque castle! Important features of the era include small windows, large thick masonry walls, and defensive fortifications.

You can find lots of cardboard castle tutorials online, but all you really need are a bunch of boxes and containers and paper towel rolls and tape. We covered our castle in butcher paper so we could draw on it.

We didn't do the motte-and-bailey-style castle (where the city is downhill from the keep) but you could easily do that, with a couple more boxes to make the hill and the walled city. We made a central courtyard in ours. A lovely, Edenic place.

While we were building our castle, Daisy made her own castle all by herself. I love the flag on top. :)

The keep, with arrow loops on the upper story

We used an old cake box for our main outer wall, so it made sense to repurpose the clear top into a moat for the outside of the castle (with alligator, of course)

This bunny is entering the castle, across the moat

The drawbridge goes up and down with strings, but the portcullis just lifts up like a flap (we couldn't figure out how to make it slide up and down easily)

These soldiers are shooting flaming arrows from their positions between crenellations

Horses and horseshoes

My friend Andrea arranged a field trip for her brother to show us how to shoe horses. (Her kids are studying the Middle Ages, and farriers---horse-shoe-ers, you know---were very important during that time.) We are not studying the Middle Ages at present, but we were totally up for going to see some cute (are horses cute? or something less diminutive---like, "majestic"? Well, we thought they were cute, especially the baby) horses.

Andrea's brother Wyatt was really great with the kids. And I thought it was so interesting to see him trim the horses' hooves---like toenails! They looked so neat and tidy when he was done. Amazing. The horses were nice and well-behaved.

As I mentioned, there was a baby horse. So cute! The cat liked him too.

Far-away baby

Two babies (will one eat the other? If so, which one?)

And then, most exciting of all, we got to ride the horses! Wahoo. The kids were SO excited. I even got to ride one, which I haven't done since college.

Wyatt and Andrea were so patient to walk the kids around the corral again and again, while the rest of us took millions of pictures of our little dears. Why are little kids on horses so cute?

Cowboy hat!!

My favorite was when Junie and Harriet were on there together. They are so tiny! 

Actually Junie and Harriet are cute no matter what they're doing. Here Harriet is playing with the puffballs on Junie's coat zipper.

I told you there were millions of pictures.

Afterwards, before we went hiking, we had a picnic in Andrea's parents' awesome yard. So beautiful! I do love Cache Valley.