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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Imagine living in the Cinderella Castle in the middle of the Magic Kingdom. How about Windsor Castle in England, owned by the Royal Family? Perhaps the Hohenzollern Castle in Germany? Then, of course, there are even some castles in New England for those wanting to stay local. While many castles follow the same type of architecture, the designs and features each one offers is unique. One of the most magical things about designing a castle is that there are endless possibilities.
That’s where the Medfield Public Library’s Crafter’s World event comes in: to help children ages three and up design and build the castle of their dreams.
Each week, Crafter’s World, sponsored by the Friends of the Medfield Public Library, offers a different activity in the Craft Room. On August 14, though, children were provided with the materials and inspiration to create their own castles. With various shaped and colored boxes available to them, the children used masking tape and glue sticks to construct their castles before adding features and decorations.
Seven-year-old Lily decided to make a castle for Disney’s “Moana” and even attempted to make a slide from the roof of the castle to the bottom. Her fortress seemed to be influenced by medieval castles with the addition of a drawbridge. She also added flags and banners to her design after incorporating windows and doors to give it the finishing touches it needed.
The craft allowed younger children to practice fine motor skills by taping the parts of the castle together, coloring the castle with crayons, and even using scissors to cut out shapes and designs to glue onto their castles. Three-year-old Ryan had help cutting out the face of a pig from pink construction paper to paste onto his castle, which he called “Piggy’s Castle.” Another three-year-old named Coleman decided to keep his orange and green castle simple after adding on the doors and windows, although he admired the other children’s castles and the inspirational pictures of castles that the library hung up.
Although the Medfield Public Library visitors would not be residing in the fantastic castles they created, they did get to take them home to play with when they were finished. From just a few cardboard boxes and pieces of scrap paper, the library inspired an interest in architecture and design, provided an outlet for creativity, and brought fun and laughter to a summer Monday.
