This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.
I love discovering fun new children’s shows that I can feel good about letting my kids watch. Too often, new shows can either be way above their heads or inappropriate but wrapped up in a “family friendly” package, making it difficult to find something acceptable. There are a number of great family shows out there, but often they don’t appear on the “main” kid networks that parents usually default to, so we can end up missing great programming. This was the case with us recently, when I just happened to discover an adorable show called “My Knight and Me” on Cartoon Network. It seemed like a great show, but just to be sure my husband and I watched an episode before sharing it with the kids, and we were very pleasantly surprised!
My Knight and Me follows the story of Jimmy the Squire, his friend Cat the Princess, and his dad Henri of Orange. Together, they save the day in the Kingdom of Epic and have a great time along the way! It teaches lessons in teamwork, sharing, and overcoming obstacles in a cute, quirky package. I love that it models close-knit family fun, but also puts a contemporary twist on the Dark Ages with things like the smart mirror (aka medieval iPhone) that make it easy to relate to today’s society. Overall we think My Knight and Me is adorable, and if you haven’t heard of it yet, please check it out!
You know how much we love drawing our crafts from things the kids enjoy, so we decided to get crafty and create our own DIY knight shields inspired by the new show! We spent a lazy Saturday afternoon making these, and we had a great time doing it together as a family. Also? They are so much cuter than I could have imagined!
Want to make some yourself? Check out the tutorial below! This took us about an hour from start to finish, but only because we took our time in between the steps. Also, you won’t spend more than $5 total, and for us the only thing I didn’t already have was the boxes, which we got for free, so it cost me nothing!
Here is what you need:
- 1 large, flat sheet of cardboard (we grabbed a few boxes from our local grocery store that they didn’t need anymore)
- Multiple sheets of felt, at least 8×11 in size each.
- Box cutter
- Hot Glue
- Shield stencil
- Embellishments, glitter, and etc. for decorating
The first thing you want to do is cut out your shield shape. I did this by printing out a shield stencil at 300%, with a quarter of the shape on each page, taping it together, and using it as a guide for cutting. If you are good with dimensions/lines, then you can skip this and freehand it.
The second step is to attach felt to the body of your shield with hot glue to be the background. We did a simple 4 pattern to keep things easy. To do this, lay your felt out in the exact design you want on a flat surface. Next, quickly hot glue the surface of your shield – an outline and a few zig-zags in the middle should be all you need. Now carefully lay it down onto your felt. Place a couple of heavy/large books on top and let it sit for a few minutes.
While the glue is setting, cut out a shape for your foreground. For ours, we went online and did a quick search for free clipart in their chosen shapes, which is a lightning bolt for Judah and a unicorn head for Kaia. Print them out at whatever size you prefer onto firm card stock, then cut them out.
Use your shapes as a stencil on a chosen color of felt, and cut it out carefully. If your children are old enough to use scissors, they can do this part themselves.
By now your glue will be set, so pick up your shield and cut the excess material off around the edges. Now glue your shape onto your shield, and then have the kids decorate it however they want to.
Once the front is complete, turn it over and attach a handle by taking a piece of card stock, rolling it up, and gluing + taping half of it down. You are left with an easy “grab and go” handle.
The kids love their new shields, and they are great for outdoor play, dress up, and exploring their imaginations!
