How to Build a Castle Out of Paper
Do you have a lot of medieval action figures but no castle for them to defend or besiege? No problem! It's very easy to make your own castle from stiff cardstock paper. It taps together for you to play with and then stores flat until the next time. The amount of time you will need to make this paper castle depends on how much detail you want to include.
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Things You'll Need
- 4 sheets of 8 1/2-by-11 inches white cardstock
- Scissors
- Crayons, paint, or markers
- Tape
- 2 lengths (8 inches long) of string
- 2 paper clips
- Hole punch
Instructions
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1
Hold the cardstock in the landscape position so that it is wider than it is tall. First you will make the tops of the castle walls. Draw ten lines one inch apart and one inch long starting at the top of the cardstock and going straight down towards the middle of the page. Do this on each of the four sheets. Then use your scissors to cut along each line. Fold down every other flap made by these cuts. You can decide whether to cut the flaps all the way off or just tape them to the inside of the castle wall. Use paint, markers, or crayons to draw the stones or bricks that are in the castle walls.
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2
Draw a series of arched windows for the soldiers to shoot arrows out at the enemies. Put the bottom of each window five inches up from the bottom of the page. Make the windows each two inches tall and 1/4 inch wide. Make at least four of these windows on each of the four pages so that the castle can be defended from every direction. Make the windows arch at the top. Push the point of your scissors through the middle of each window. Carefully cut them out starting from the little hole made by the scissors.
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3
Make a drawbridge that can be lowered for your soldiers and their horses to get out of the castle without getting into the moat. Make it so that it can be raised to prevent enemies from getting into the castle. Draw a rectangle that is three inches wide and four inches tall. Put it in the middle of one page of cardstock so that the bottom of the rectangle is the bottom of the paper. Cut out the rectangle very carefully. Punch a hole one inch from the top and 1/2 inch from the edge of the cut out rectangle on right side the castle wall. Punch another hole one inch from the top and 1/2 inch from the edge of the cut out rectangle on the left side of the castle wall. Punch one hole 1/2 inch from the top of the cut out rectangle on the right side and another one on the left side. Tie eight inches of string to each hole on the cut out rectangle. Use markers, paint, or crayons to make the planks of wood on the drawbridge.
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4
Tape the walls of the castle together. Place the tape on the inside of each corner - a piece at the top, middle, and bottom of each corner where two pieces of cardstock, the walls, meet. If necessary, use a book or a block to help the castle stand up. Lay the drawbridge (the cut-out rectangle) down sticking flat on the floor or table starting at the edge of the cut-out rectangle and away from the castle wall so that the holes with the strings are far from the wall. Pull the string on the right side of the drawbridge through the hole on the right side of the castle wall. Pull the string so that it is tight and makes a diagonal. Wind it around a paper clip on the inside of the castle to keep the string "chain" tight. Do the same with the other string. If you need to close the draw bridge, all you have to do is keep pulling up on the string. Then you can put a block or a piece of tape to keep it closed.
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5
Arrange your medieval action figures and have fun with your castle. Do you have a princess held prisoner that some knight must rescue or is there a dragon holding everyone from the town in fear and locked up in the castle? Have fun and use your imagination.
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