- Age:5+
- Time:1 hr
- Difficulty:Medium
- Mess level:Low
- Supervision:Yes
Short History of Castles
Fun fact: Castles didn’t have toilets! At least not in the way we use them today. They had little rooms called “garderobe”, practically just a hole through which they sent their waste products into the moat. Why garderobe? They also kept their clothes there! Thankfully, today we have proper toilets and toilet paper from which we can create our own castle!
Almost everyone is fascinated by castles. They are grand and majestic, a symbol of power and strength. One of the oldest castle sites in the world is the Citadel of Aleppo, located in northern Syria. People have been building on that hill since around 3000 B.C., though most of the fortress standing there today was built much later, in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D.
Castles have been symbols of power and strength for thousands of years.
When we think about castles, we usually think of fortified structures built in the Middle Ages in Europe. They were used as a residence for nobility, and served as defensive structures but also centers of administrations.
Castles started to appear in the 9th and 10th centuries. In the beginning, they were made mostly out of earth and wood, but soon stone became primary building material. Later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, more complex designs started to emerge and defensive capabilities were improved with towers and moats.
There are 4 types of similar structures that people usually mix:
- Castle - fortified residential structure for nobility
- Palace - residence for nobility that is usually not fortified
- Fortress - military structure, not a residence
- Fortified settlement - settlement surrounded by the walls for the defense
The three most common types of Castles
In different periods of history and different regions of the world, people were building very different types of castles. But the most popular and well known are Motte and Bailey Castle, Stone Keep, and Concentric Castles.
Motte and Bailey Castles
The motte and bailey castle: a wooden keep on a raised mound, ringed by a courtyard.
These types of castles were first built in northern Europe in the 10th century. Thus, they were the earliest type of medieval castle. They were built from Motte and Bailey, as the name suggests.
The Motte was a raised mound of earth (sometimes a natural hill). On top of the Motte stood a wooden keep or a lookout tower. The outer edge of the Motte was surrounded by a wooden fence called a palisade. The difference between palisade and the wall is that palisade couldn’t be manned while the wall usually meant that people can stand on it.
The Bailey was a surrounding area around Motte where people lived. Large Motte and Bailey Castles could have several baileys.
Usually, Motte also had a wooden bridge that could be removed if the Bailey was occupied. The bridge would go over a ditch that was surrounding the Motte and in many cases the Bailey. Some Motte and Bailey Castles filled the ditches with water and that provided an extra layer of protection from attackers.
Stone Keep Castles
Stone keeps replaced wooden towers from the 11th century onward.
Stone Castles started to appear around the 11th century and they soon replaced Motte and Bailey Castles since they provided superior protection.
In the center of the Castle was the Keep that was made from thick stone walls and only a few windows. On the ground floor, we could usually find kitchens while the living quarters were on the upper floors. First stone Keeps were in a rectangular shape and in later centuries they were often replaced with a circular shape.
Stone Keeps were surrounded by thick stone walls (that could be manned) and towers or turrets that served as a lookout tower but could also hold archers and in some cases siege weapons.
Stone keeps often had the second layer of walls - outer walls. Now the area between inner walls and outer walls was a Bailey. It was a place for craftsman shops and commerce. The outer wall was usually surrounded by a ditch or moat with a drawbridge protecting the entrance.
Concentric Castles
The concentric castle: two rings of walls made it the ultimate fortress design.
The pinnacle of the Castle building, Concentric Castles were introduced in the late 12th and early 13th century. They offered the best possible protection against the attackers until the introduction of gunpowder weapons.
The main feature of the Concentric Castles design was its construction on different levels. The Center was the highest part that was surrounded by thick stone inner walls. Those walls also contained turrets or lookout towers that were built on specific distances from each other all across the wall.
The next layer of walls, outer walls were lower than inner walls so archers on the inner walls could safely shoot across the outer wall.
The space between the inner and outer wall is usually called the “killing ground” since attackers caught between the walls, with defenders above them on both sides, had almost no chance.
The outer walls, and with that entire castle, was also surrounded by a moat, and the only entrance was a drawbridge. These magnificent structures presented a formidable obstacle for attackers and could withstand a siege for a long time.
Concentric castles had two rings of walls, and the inner wall was built taller than the outer one. Why?
Make your prediction, then tap an answer to check!
Materials needed for Cardboard Castle
- Paper rolls (we used 8 rolls)
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers
- Colored Paper (or ordinary paper)
- OPTIONAL:
- Staple
- Toothpicks
- Needle and Thread
- Pin
Instructions for making the Toilet Roll Castle
👨👧 Adult supervision needed
Cutting thick cardboard is harder than it looks - the blade slips exactly when you push harder, so the base and any cardboard cutting are an adult job. Children can take over the rolls, the decorating and the gluing. If you reach for a hot glue gun instead of ordinary craft glue, an adult should hold it: the glue burns for several seconds after it leaves the nozzle. The optional bits deserve a word too - the pin, needle and toothpicks are sharp and small, so hand them out one at a time, count them back in at the end, and skip them entirely if a toddler shares the room.
We advise you to check out our video guide located at the beginning of the article, for more detailed instructions! If you can’t watch the video or just prefer reading, here is a detailed description of how to make a cardboard castle.
1. From a bigger piece of cardboard, cut out the rectangular shape - that will be the base of your castle. The shape is not that important, it can be circular or any other that you desire. It can also be from any other material, not necessarily cardboard. Most important is that our base is stable and thick enough so we can glue the rest of our castle to it. It will definitely ease the transportation of our castle later.
2. Make your towers using the toilet paper rolls (or any other sturdy paper rolls).
a) Small tower: You will need 3 paper rolls to make two towers. Cut one toilet paper roll horizontally in half. The shape should stay the same, and we will get two equal, just smaller, toilet roll tubes. Make a cut on both smaller toilet rolls on two places and attach them on the other two normal size paper rolls. Decorate as you wish. So we will make 2 small towers in total using this method.
Small towers: halved toilet rolls with battlements cut into the top.
b) Make roofs for your towers. Use the compass to measure a circle. Measure so the circle diameter is around 2 centimeters bigger than our toilet roll tube diameter. Draw the circle on colored paper and mark the center. Cut out the circle. Now cut a triangle piece on one side of a circle (with one point in the center). When you cut it out, the remaining paper is shaped like a Pac-Man. Take one side of that shape or overlap it with another - you should get a shape of a cone. You can glue our paper roof with hot glue or use a staple to make a cone. That will be the roof of our tower. Repeat the procedure 3 more times to make 4 roofs for four towers.
A paper circle with a cut to the center rolls up into a cone roof.
c) Big tower: Similar to small towers, the only difference is we will use 2 whole toilet paper rolls instead of one and a half. You will need 2 paper rolls. Connect those 2 rolls side by side and make a cut with scissors through both of them, so it’s identical on both rolls. Put one roll on top of the other and rotate them until they are attached together in the cuts you just made. Now we have made a big tower for our cardboard castle. Decorate as you wish. Make another tower like that since we need 2 big towers.
The big tower uses two whole rolls joined side by side.
3. Now to make the walls. From ordinary cardboard, cut the walls which will connect the towers. Take one whole toilet paper roll and measure the height. Cut the wall from the cardboard that will be the same height as the toilet roll. We will need 4 walls in total so cut four pieces of the wall from the cardboard. Decorate them as you wish. You can cut the battlements on the cardboard to make your walls look more realistic. Also, don’t forget to cut out the entrance on the front wall.
4. Glue the walls on the towers so everything is connected. We used hot glue, but any type of quality glue for cardboard will be good. Attaching our 4 castle walls for our four towers will create our castle. Just a few more finishing touches and we are done!
5. Now to decorate. You can make flags that will make your castle unique. Cut a little rectangular piece of paper and glue it on the toothpick. You can use the colored paper, or just regular paper and draw your unique crest on the flag. Then just stick the toothpick on the top of the roof.
Paper flags on toothpicks give every tower its own crest.
6. Improve the castle in any way you like, make it your own. We made a drawbridge, but we won’t reveal our method. We challenge you to make your own design and to share it with us!
What will you learn by making the Castle
- STEM Engineering
- Creativity, design
- Hand-eye coordination
- Spatial skills
- Physics
Key takeaways
- A cardboard castle is a recycling craft: toilet rolls become towers, cardboard becomes the base and walls, and paper makes cone roofs and flags.
- Real castles were fortified homes for nobility, different from an unfortified palace, a purely military fortress, or a walled settlement.
- Castle design evolved: motte and bailey (wood on a mound) → stone keep (thick stone walls) → concentric (two rings of walls, the ultimate pre-gunpowder fortress).
- Concentric castles put the taller inner wall behind a lower outer wall so archers could shoot over the top, trapping attackers in the "killing ground."
- Cutting thick cardboard and using a hot glue gun are adult jobs; children do the rolls, decorating, and gluing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make a castle out of toilet paper rolls?
Cut a cardboard base, then turn toilet rolls into towers (whole rolls for big towers, halved rolls stacked for small ones). Add paper cone roofs, cut cardboard walls with battlements to connect the towers, glue it all to the base, and finish with flags and a drawbridge.
What are the main types of medieval castles?
The three best-known are the motte and bailey (a wooden keep on a raised mound), the stone keep (a strong stone tower behind thick walls), and the concentric castle (two rings of walls). They appeared roughly in that order as castle-building improved.
What is a motte and bailey castle?
It's the earliest medieval castle type, from around the 10th century. The motte is a raised mound topped by a wooden keep or lookout tower, and the bailey is the walled courtyard below where people lived, usually ringed by a wooden palisade and a ditch.
What is a concentric castle?
A concentric castle has two rings of walls, one inside the other, with the inner wall taller than the outer. This let archers fire over the outer wall and trapped attackers in the gap between the walls. Introduced around 1200, it was the strongest design before gunpowder.
What is the difference between a castle, a palace, and a fortress?
A castle is a fortified residence for nobility. A palace is a noble residence that is usually not fortified. A fortress is a purely military structure, not a home. A fortified settlement is a whole town surrounded by defensive walls.
Did castles have toilets?
Not as we know them. Castles had small rooms called "garderobes" - essentially a hole that emptied into the moat below. The name also meant "wardrobe," because clothes were sometimes stored there, as the smell was thought to keep moths away.
We hope you enjoyed making this cardboard castle, but the fun has just started! After you make it, it can be used for many more hours with amazing castle games you can play. Bring out your knights, dragons and mighty sorceresses and experience grand adventures.
If you search for even more arts and crafts ideas with simple ingredients, check out How to make Cardboard Clock. And we recommend you try and build your own, working, cardboard projector. Also, if you are interested in building, check out our STEM Engineering activity Let’s build with playdough or you can stay medieval and lay siege on your castle with a popsicle catapult. And if defenders need help, they can send a message with a cipher wheel so the enemy doesn’t know that help is coming!
