Renaissance at Home: Creating a Renaissance-Themed Playdate

I have this great idea (at least now I think it’s great; we’ll see if I can keep motivated to continue with it) to explore and blog through art history with my daughter, V.  As a amateur(very…amateur) artist, I hope to educate both of us through this experience, which I hope will evolve over the years to include more complex and intricate projects and study.

Through this course of study, I hope to blog about several children’s activity books and our experiences with the projects contained within.  I imagine we will skip around time periods a bit in V’s early years, where exposure to mediums, textures, colors, and sensory experiences is the primary focus.  I also know I will be adapting many of the activities to be age-appropriate for V, as well as coming up with some of my own ideas.  I know my husband, M, a talented artist himself, will also be excited to join us on our art adventures.

Following our trip to the Renaissance Faire the other day, I wanted to continue exploring the theme with art, music, costume, and cooking activities at home.  I was excited to involve some of V’s young friends in these activities over a day-long playdate.

Our fair maiden

We used the book Days of Knights and Damsels:  An Activity Guide  by Laurie Carlson as a source for our day, completing 5 activities in the book.  I love this book and plan to purchase a copy (this one was from our local library) for continued use.

Here are the five activities we completed:

With the two girls (aged 2.5 and 8), we completed the “Lady’s Looking Glass” on pg. 18 of the text.

Cut two pieces from cardboard using the pattern found in the book.

V’s mirror pieces, painted.

Mirror painted by V’s artistic friend!

Final front view, once we glued on “jewels”

Back view

V’s final bejeweled version

Back of V’s mirror

The next project we did was designing shields, inspired by the project on pg. 33.  We adapted our project for simplicity, simply cutting a shield shape out of paper and creating our own designs with paper, pencils and paints.

Blank shield shape

Our young 10 year old friend began designing his shield using his family crest, which he had previously found online.

V painting her shield

Two other books that might be helpful for designing your shields or for general reference  if you are completing the project with older children are shown in the picture below.  V loves the pop-up Knight book that I had actually purchased before she was born.

Some helpful titles

The next project that we did, which was a hit with all of the kids, especially our 10 year old chef, was to make pretzels, pg. 46 and mead, pg. 62.

Our homemade pretzels

We adapted the recipe in the book a bit; we brushed the egg mixture and added toppings BEFORE cooking, so as to not have raw egg on the top of our pretzels.  Our young guest chefs also suggested making a sweet topping for some of the pretzels, so we mixed cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on half of them.  This was a great texture experience for my little gal, who loved twisting and kneading the dough.

And the mead:  though it’s pretty much just honey and water, it was surprisingly good.  (No, we did not make the alcoholic kind, which is DEFINITELY good).

Finally, we made the Scroll Carrier from pg. 107.  I do not have pictures of the carrier; the 10 year old boy was the only one to complete this project and what fascinated him most was the paper we made.

Here is an activity that I created on my own to make parchment like paper for the scroll carriers.

First, brew a cup of regular tea.  Let it cool.  Pull out a cookie sheet with high sides or a baking pan.  Pour the tea in the pan and add a couple scoops of coffee grounds, stir, and let it dissolve into the tea a bit.  Put a drying rack over your sink to allow the paper to drip without staining your countertops.

Our drying paper

I used craft paper to cut the edges of the paper in a jagged sort of way.

Then, we swished the paper in the tray, covering them a bit with the grounds.  If you leave some of the grounds on the paper when drying, it creates some great dark staining, which looks awesome.

Place the paper on the rack and allow to dry completely.  Brush off the grounds in the sink, and you have instant parchment.

Our parchment paper

There are many other wonderful activities to complete in this book, and I hope to blog about more of them in the future. I also hope to explore some Renaissance artists with V and create some relevant projects based on their work.  Keep your fingers crossed that I can maintain this project, because I think it will be so much fun!

Our Fair Lady at the Maryland Renaissance Faire

M & V purchased tickets at the gate, where we saw Trekkies in line waiting (Big Bang Theory joke anyone?!)

 

My husband, M, studied Medieval and Renaissance history as part of his graduate program; that fact, combined with the fact that we love dressing in costume and the romance (however historically inaccurate) of the era, has resulted in a late summer/fall tradition in our family:  frequenting Renaissance Faires!  So this past Labor Day weekend, my husband, M, and I were excited to share our family tradition with our daughter, V as we journeyed to the Maryland Renaissance Faire for our third Faire experience as a family.  Today, in a joint post featured on both of our sites, (TheRippleEffect2009 and Glitnir76) we’d like to share our experiences taking our 22 month old gal to a living history event.

 

Kissing Mama near the Portcullis (which V now knows how to say!)

 

Getting her into her costume was a bit difficult, and she wanted no part of her long (and hot) princess/gown outfit.  Luckily, we brought a lighter pirate outfit consisting of shorts, a shirt, and a hat.  So imagine our luck when we encountered the pirate ship at the kiddies’ playscape!  Though V has braved many such contraptions before (indoor and out), I don’t think she had encountered quite so many other kiddos as were clambering all over the thing.  But, dad braved the plank and walked her up to the poop deck where she explored a bit, and was especially fascinated with looking down on the brig.  Fortune was on dad’s side as she didn’t have much interest in going down there…

 

On a quest with Dada to find the "playplace"

On the "pirate" ship with M & V!

 

One of the things we like to do at Ren Faires is to take in as many shows as possible (after all, they’re included in your ticket price). But with a young child, you never know what will hold their attention for the 15-30 minute show.  Imagine our delight when V was enthralled with Hamlet, Act I!  I mean, what kind of awesome do you need to be to dig Shakespeare at 22 months?  And she probably understood about as much of it as I (her dad) did…

 

Watching Hamlet, Act 1

 

As V is a bit obsessed with knights and jousting (since her first Ren Faire and reading “Knight: A Noble Guide for Young Squires” with her dad), we were thrilled to be able to take her to see the jousting tournaments taking place on “The King’s Field.”  At home, V runs through the house with a long wooden “jousting lance.”  She does battle with her golden dragon and fierce elephant with her foam swords, battleaxe, and flail.

 

Our brave knight (or in these days...dame) doing battle against the fearsome beasts!

 

She watches jousting matches from “A Knight’s Tale,” frequently requesting, “Knights, jous?”  So it was no surprise that V LOVED seeing real life jousting! We were able to fit two of the three jousts into our plans for the day and I think they were the highlight of V’s experience.  She learned to cheer “Huzzah!” for the Scottish champion supported by our section.  She bossily ordered the knights forward on the field yelling “JOUS!” at them.  She clapped at the clanging of the lances as they shattered against the full armor worn by the participating knights.  For a moment, she was transported into her beloved fantasy world.

One of the best jousts we've seen at a Ren Faire

Watching as her beloved knights approach...

 

Having learned to slay the Dastardly Dragon and Evil Elephant at home, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to seeing the real thing (the latter mind you) at the Faire.  Would she summon her “charge” rage and go rampaging off to slay the beast? Would she cower at the sight of such a huge animal (a big step up from her stuffed opponent)?  Nah, she pretty calmly evaluated her opponent from the safety of the fence and her parents’ arms which was just fine with us.

 

 

Fortunately, there was something smaller she could attempt to ride: the ponies!  She didn’t seem to want to go with mom, so dad picked her up, explained that it was a noble steed for a knight like herself, and she bravely tried it out.  Of course, after the first time, that’s all she wanted to do!  There’s a 2 ride-a-day limit, so she was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t also ride the “white one,” but she did a great job and even managed to wave to the crowd in true royal fashion.

On her noble steed...

 

As the Faire came to a close for the day, we managed to fit one, last, but important experience into our schedule. 10 years ago this August, M and I began our journey together as a family as we celebrated our wedding.  At our reception, M and I changed into (roughly) medieval garb.  So it is fitting that we celebrated our 10 year vow renewal (we did a version of this in our kitchen as I had the flu on the actual day) at a Renaissance Faire chapel.  As is our fortune, we forgot a copy of our actual vows, so we spoke from the heart and had V serve as official ring bearer as we exchanged our rings again.

 

Goin' to the Chapel...(was actually playing on the way to our wedding)!

 

Although we loved our experience, there are some challenges with taking a toddler to a Renaissance Faire.  First, the terrain is NOT stroller friendly, but if you want to carry around all of the necessities for a successful day trip with a little one, it is a must.  So be prepared for some tussles with the wheels.  Second, as is true with “real world” shopping, browsing for wares at the local merchant’s shop can prove a challenge with an on-the-go kiddo.  Thirdly, unless, like us, you have a kiddy porta-potty, potty-training efforts will likely take some damage points for the day, as the porta-johns aren’t exactly toddler friendly.  Finally, Ren Faire fare does not include the healthiest options for little ones.  Chicken dippers and fries were the only menu items that V would touch, so it behooves the parents of toddlers to bring a cooler with many toddler friendly munchies.  Despite these challenges, we’ll keep taking V back to Renaissance Faires, because being able to touch, smell, see, and experience the past will give her a new perspective and a foundation for future learning.  And because we’re just the kind of family to quest for adventure, together!