Medieval History Studies with my 2nd Grader

Holden and I have finished up our study of the Vikings, and now we’re studying medieval history with Sonlight Core C.  We recently finished reading Tales of Robin Hood, and just this last week, we finished up Minstrel in the Tower.  We’re continuing our studies with The Usborne Time Traveler.  So I thought that while we’re on the topic, it might be fun to do some sort of hands-on project that Holden could use and play with while we’re doing our reading…something to peak his interest and feed his need to be doing something while I’m reading aloud.

I looked around on Amazon and Pinterest and decided I wanted to get some kind of castle-building kit.  I was hunting for a Medieval Castle, but they seemed pretty expensive.  I found myself passing by the local homeschool bookstore, Moore Expressions, and decided to pop in and see if I could get lucky and find something of that nature in the store.  As luck would have it, they had the Usborne Make This Crusader Castle…that was close enough!  I really wanted a building kit with blocks of some kind so it would be sturdier, but the ones on Amazon were about $35-$75 each.  I didn’t want to spend that much on it since we’ll be moving on in our studies soon enough.  So I figured with the right glue, this Crusader Castle kit should work well enough, and as luck would have it, it was only $4 at Moore’s!  Perfect.

Now the kit says to use a fast-drying glue, and from reading reviews online, I understand that using the right glue is the key to success with these.  The materials are a slick cardstock, so it’s easy to see how a traditional glue might not work so well.  If you’ve used this type of kit before, what glue would you recommend?

I have to get the right materials really soon, because Holden is so excited about this project that he has asked me every single day, at least twice a day, if we can finally start building it!  I’ll keep you posted on our progress as we get this project underway.