Babygoz News

3 Dec 2007

Published in Child Education PLUS January 2008
http://magazines.scholastic.co.uk/content/1348
By Sheila Hoeman—Retired teacher and author

Check out the best medieval books on the market
Creative Fun in the Middle Ages
Creative Fun Middle Ages Activity Book by Sue and Steve Weatherill.
(B Small Publishing, ISBN 1902915488)

This book provides step-by-step instructions for 12 activities relating to the Middle Ages. A short explanation about the history accompanies each of the objects to be made. There is a lovely recipe on ‘How to make a Medieval Pudding’ (a fruit crumble!), which points out that the food to choose from would have to be seasonal as there were no freezers. Another activity is a game called ‘Merels’ dating from the Middle Ages, a bit like noughts and crosses but using counters.

This is a very practical book with some fun ideas that illustrate the changes that history brings. There is a glossary of ten key words at the back of the book, and 18 stencils of heraldic shapes and motifs that could give ideas for some interesting art work. It would be a useful book to put on the non-fiction shelf, so that children could gain a basic insight into the Middle Ages and use the clear pictures to make their own artefacts.