Knight Shield

Yesterday morning Zac asked me to play knights.

I was all for it and started my best attempt at being a "knight".

He quickly corrected me by telling me that he needed a knight hat, a knight shield and a knight costume. None of which we had...

We have a whole bunch of boxes laying around the house at the moment, left over from Christmas, so I decided we'd make up some shields in the afternoon.

I took a couple pictures along the way so I could share with all of you lovelies! So if you'd like to make yourself and the little man (men, lady or ladies!) in your life a play knight shield, read on!

You'll need:

Cardboard

Scissors

Paint

Paper

Glue (I used a glue stick and hot glue)

Tape (if it's important to your kids)

Markers/Crayons/Pencil Crayons to decorate the shield with

Cut a shield shape out of the cardboard and a slightly smaller one out of paper. Paint the cardboard shield and write your little person's initial in the center of the paper. (If you're planning on making this with your kid(s), you could always have them paint the cardboard of course. I choose not to as my boys are too impatient with waiting for the paint to dry and I didn't want the drama of not being able to play with it right away...)

Once the paint has dried on the cardboard, have your child(ren) colour/decorate the paper with their initial. Once they are happy with their decorating, glue the paper onto the cardboard (we used a glue stick for speedy drying!)

To put the handle on the back of the shield simply cut out a thin (keep in mind little hands have to be able to get around it) strip of cardboard, fold it about 2-3 inches on each end and press these folded pieces onto the back of the shield. I used hot glue on the handle to secure it in place for the speed of drying and also because I felt like it could take more abuse then craft glue. After it cooled I had Zac put tape over the glued areas so he could feel included... and because he LOOOOVES "sticky tape"!

You can also cut out a sword if you feel so inclined or use those left over wrapping paper tubes!

I was really pleased with this one. I think it's cute and once I got to the point that Zac was involved it was made quickly and he was able to walk away and play with it instantly, no waiting required!

Eli couldn't have been less interested, but having two will work out well...

Zac's really good with his sword.

PS - I recommend the wrapping paper tube swords... cardboard hurts...