Content area
Full text
Create your own medieval incursion with these DIY costumes and equipment
Teaching through engaging students with excursions, artefacts, objects and practical projects is an effective way to communicate ideas about a past way of life. In Australia, we have a rich choice of destinations for many topics, but medieval history is not one of them. We don't want our medieval students to miss out on the benefit and excitement, simply because medieval action took place on the other side of the world, and for most schools a medieval incursion is more practical than a trip to Europe. If resources permit, you could contact a specialist company, such as History Up Close, which has years of experience in replicating historical material culture and presenting to schools, or you could take the do-it-yourself path and create a medieval world in the classroom with common craft materials.
Although the DIY version will not feature the knowledge of professional presenters in meticulously researched costumes, who demonstrate authentic skills and provide and discuss replicas of tools, daily hygiene items, musical instruments, jewellery and more, it does provide a low-cost, hands-on way for your students to engage with the medieval past. One of the current authors remembers a day when his students made their own medieval lunch, from grinding the flour and baking the bread, to making cheese and collecting herbs to season the food, all while singing medieval songs. Activities like this bring the students into close contact with experiences of the past.
In this article, we offer some low-cost crafting and teaching exercises in medieval history education to help you provide an active learning environment, enhance student engagement and create memorable teaching moments. We describe how to make tabards (crusaderstyle tunics), headgear, shields and armour, and decorate them with appropriate heraldry. These activities require no specialist skills, are free or cheap to develop and use materials that can readily be found at home, in the classroom or in local craft shops. Each activity can be done as a standalone project or, for maximum impact, combined to make a living chessboard in your classroom.
The Living Chessboard
To make a living chessboard, students create the appropriate costumes and equipment for each chess piece. As students themselves become the chess...