Kids do battle on March break
Activities at library include models of weapons used in ancient times
Kids stormed cardboard forts armed with homemade catapults flinging little balls in a full-on medieval melee at New Glasgow Library Wednesday.
Before attacking the forts stuck together with tape and cardboard, children built hand-held catapults using popsicle sticks and string before going into battle.
“It’s March Break, so we’re hosting lots of programs for school-age kids and I just thought this would be fun,” said branch assistant Cristal van de Pol. “If we really wanted to go into the depths we could explain how catapults work, but it just really lets them be creative.”
While storming forts with catapults was fun and games for today’s children, these weapons were a matter of life and death for ancient and medieval armies.
Catapults were first used in Ancient Greece and India, notably by Alexander the Great in his war against the Persian Empire.
During the 332 BCE Siege of Tyre in modern-day Lebanon, Alexander’s Greek army used catapults to bombard the city walls before capturing it and slaughtering thousands of its inhabitants.
Catapults became increasingly powerful down the centuries, as did defensive walls and fortifications around castles and cities.
The last time catapults were seen in battle was during the First World War, when soldiers used them to fling grenades into enemy trenches. They were later replaced by mortars as the war ground on.
“Before there were guns and stuff they had to actually use old weapons like catapults,” said van der Pol.
About 15 children came to build catapults at the library, joined by some of their parents.
While these models were small enough to fit in their pockets, children at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton can experiment with larger wooden models during its March break activities, which has a medieval history theme.