This post includes sponsored links from Entropy, check the end of this post for a great giveaway.
The Castle Story
By Noah – aged 4.
Once upon a time there was a castle.
In front of the castle there was a big forest, at the edge of the forest there was a river, and after that was The Land of Giant Mushrooms.
Lots of people lived in the castle, including fairies, knights, a prince, a princess, and a wizard.
The castled was defended by some brave knights, a boy with an eagle, and a friendly dragon. They needed to be very brave, because some baddies lived in the The Land of Giant Mushrooms and they were really really bad, and mean.
The boss of the baddies was the evil fairy queen. There was also a bad knight and all kinds of scary baddies.
One day the evil queen made her baddies attack the castle!
There was a big fight, and lots of shouting, and some blood, and the wizard did a spell, and one of the knights died. Then the other knight shouted “Send out the dragon!”
The big friendly dragon swooped down and caught the queen and put her in the dungeon.
Then they put up the draw bridge and the people in the castle could all go to sleep and be safe.
The end.
It may look like just a bit of playful fun and it is… but while my four year old sets up the castle scene and then acts out his story with the figurines, he is also totally immersed in holistic learning. He is using skills from every developmental area as he imagines the scene and creates the story.
He is using his motor skills and co-ordination to build the scene and balance the figurines on the turrets. He is practicing pre-reading skills by making up his own story with characters, a beginning, a middle and an end. He is figuring out social issues like what makes a character a goodie and what makes them a baddie and what happens when they die?
I could go on listing skills that Noah is using and developing as he plays with the castle, but you get the idea, this may just be a bit of imaginative play but it is also a whole lot of learning.
This is why I love imaginative play, because it combines multiple skills and you can just about see the learning and growing happening right before your eyes!
Win Your Own Castle and Figurines from Entropy.
This competition is now closed.
Congratulations to ‘A.S’ who’s clever story including the word ‘entropy’ won them this fab prize!
Over the years we have collected lots of great figurines for imaginative play and we added the great castle one Christmas. People often ask me where we got the Schleich and Papo figures from and where the great castle came from and I’m always happy to recommend a great Australian toy shop – Entropy.
I shop online with Entropy every Christmas and have always been impressed with their range and service, so when they contacted me asking if I would like to work with them I was super excited! And I’m even more excited to give away a fabulous Papo castle play set from Entropy!
One lucky reader will win this amazing Papo Weaponmaster Castle (RRP $169), a Papo Castle Baseboard (RRP $19.95) and $50 worth of Papo figurines!
To enter pop over to the entropy site and check out the Papo figurines, then leave a comment on this post telling me which figurines would live in your castle and why. The most interesting, or funny comment will win.
Which Papo figurines would live in your castle and why?
Terms and Conditions.
You must be an Australian resident with an Australian post address to enter.
You must provide a valid email address and entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close Wednesday September 3rd 2014 at midday EST.
One winner will be contacted by email and announced on this post before September 30th 2014.
Entries will be judged on merit and creativity.
Prizes include a Papo Weaponmaster Castle (RRP $169), a Papo Castle Baseboard (RRP $19.95) and $50 worth of Papo figurines and postage within Australia.
Prizes may differ to those shown here and the figurines component of the prize are not necessarily those shown in the image and will be selected by Entropy staff to the nearest monetary value of $50.
The winner must contact me within 5 days or the prize will be re-drawn.
The winner agrees to have their contact details passed on to the appropriate PR company or brand representative who will send out/organise the prizes directly.
{disclosure: This is a feature post – find more information about feature posts here. The castle and figurines featured in this post belong to my children and were bought from Entropy and other stores, over many years, prior to this arrangement. The opinions shared in this post are my own. }
Penny says
I like the queen of flowers. She looks just like Mary Poppins and I know my girls would adore her! Mary Poppins deserves her own castle!
AS says
My castle would be full of a mutant pirate crew. Octopus, walrus, fish head and crab, have beaten down the drawbridge and are going to take up life as landlubbers. The previous human inhabitants, Princess Sissi and Prince Brightness at first are aghast as the highly formalised ways of the court start to entropy under mutant rule, however in a year or two they are loving life amongst all those non-human entities like the dashing Lion Man, Witch and her boyfriend the Minotaur, and all the others who have flocked to the new multi-cultural melting pot of Papo Weaponmaster Castle. They wonder why they ever bothered with the moat and drawbridge in the first place!
Naamah says
Ha! I love your son’s story and had to laugh when it was the queen figurine who was the baddie and ended up in the dungeon. We would have quite a different outcome here!
I would have to have anything in a dress inhabiting the castle for the 4YO daughter and some horses with a soldier for the 2YO son. The usual game here is for the fairy figurine we have to be speaking condescendingly to the Schleich animals, whereupon the horse (driven by the 2YO) gallops toward her and stomps her into the dust while she screams blue murder. It would be nice to have a change of pace and narrative, I can tell you! ????
Tracy says
If we won the castle the one figure my boys would definitely have living in the castle would be the skeleton! I laughed out loud when I clicked through to the Papo range on the Entropy site and saw the skeleton was the first figure because I knew that would be the one. Weird choice you might think, but it’s all because of Minecraft – I can hear the groans of understanding from other parents of Minecraft obsessed kids as I type :) Their older cousins introduced them to the game last school holidays (much to my dismay) but my boys love it. Anyway they’re not scared of the ‘googlies’ as we call the skeletons, zombies, etc from Minecraft that are supposed to be the baddies. And they actually like to give a particular googly a pet name and build an elaborate home for them to live in! Please don’t tell me how weird my kids are ;).
Meg says
I would choose Princess Andalusia for her stunning flamenco dress; corsair woman and a horse for her to ride as I’d like my daughter to have a female figurine uninhibited by skirts with the potential for greater agency in imaginative play; tiger man and gorilla mutant for the way they capture the imagination; a unicorn knight and his steed; and Queen of the Elves to add some magic to the possible scenarios
Kate @ One Small Life says
In my castle would live the Pink Princess, the Andalusian Princess the Elf Ballerina & Unicorn, the Blue Riding Elf and the Silver Unicorn. I don’t know what would happen to them, but they would all live together because they like each other and give each other hugs. No-one is naughty and they are all nice. I would not let my little brother play with them. He is naughty. And only sometimes nice. by Alice 6 years.
Sarah Hunt says
Who could resist Merlin, the King and Queen (the classic castle characters). But of course the Armoured Red Knight who conceals his identity to all whilst saving the kingdom would be a favourite. But we all know he’s doing it for Princess Manon whom he saw by the river picking flowers and singing. And what castle is complete without a dragon. I am sure my children (and possibly me too) would love the chance to win such an amazing prize! Thank you for the chance :)
Cath says
This one came from the four year old …. “i would choose the Cerberus because with three heads he could do three ENORMOUS burps and scare away the dragon and then his tummy wouldn’t hurt and he’d be a happy big black cat. With three heads.”
Cate Rose says
Princesses Aimée & April (*Corsair Woman & Pirate Woman*) have gone undercover with a group of pirates to defeat the *Walrus Mutant Pirate* and restore *Princess Marion*, princess of all the sunflowers to her rightful place in the Castle of Good. With the help of *Fairy Unicorn’s* special magic powers can they find the tenderheart locked within *Walrus Mutant Pirate* and save him, Princess Sunflower, themselves – and the entire kingdom??
Catherine says
My sons feel that their castle belongs to King Croco (Croc Man) and guarded by Rhino Men. The underground water entrance is guarded by Fish Head Pirates. They are all mutants because when they were battling a wizard came and threw a potion at them.
And if we don’t win this, I think my sons are going to be making me get them a castle anyway, so I hope we win!
Shauna says
My daughter Madeleine Rose (aged5) says she would make it an ‘Irish fairy dreams castle’ ( we are originally from Ireland)so apparently we need the white fairy pony, the green princess with bird, and the imp ( apparently he’s like an Australian version of the Irish leprechaun!! So hoping we can find the rainbow with the pot of gold as she wants to buy everything from Entropy!
Chelsea says
Oh. my. goodness. What an incredible castle and those figurines – awesome! My boys would go crazy for this. It is a tough choice since there are so many creative characters, but if I were to choose some I would go for the pirate women figurines (as well as some pirate men) because I’d love my sons to include more female characters in their play, in preparation for having a little sister! I would also like them to see more female characters as feisty and capable :-) Thanks for sharing this lovely resource – about to explore the entire website now! x
Crystal Berry says
Fish head mutant pirate and the elf child on swan figurines all the way! The more demented the figurines the more my 3 year old daughter lets her imagination run wild. She once played with the head off an ET alien PEZ dispenser for two months. The adventures that head went on were phenomenal!
Tracey Hayles says
Here are the figurines Lachlan and Owen want to live in their castle.
Once upon a time there was a castle that was protected by the dragon mutant, dragon gold two head, the prince of brightness and the ghost rider. The child elves and pony, the most magical people in the land lived outside the castle, to try and trick everyone who wanted their powers, as all the baddies thought they lived inside the castle. Their magical powers meant they could make anything you asked them to make happen come true, but they never did it for baddies. The baddies, the shark mutant and the zombie rider worked out where the child elf and pony lived and stole them because they wanted there magical powers. They took them to the baddie hideout, a palace of ice and they asked for the goodies to disappear for ever but the child elf refused to do it. The baddies asked every day for the same thing. Meanwhile the goodies back at the castle knew child elf and pony were missing and were hatching a plane to save them. The ghost rider rode a ghost horse into the palace of ice and made a distraction. The prince of brightness shone so brightly he blinded the baddies. The goodies took the child elf and pony and saved them. As they left the dragons melted the ice castle with their fire and smelly farts. They took them back to the castle and shut the draw bridge. And once inside the child elf and pony magically made the castle and all the people that lived there come into our lounge to live happily ever after with us. Except for the baddies who died. By Lachan and Owen. PS The child elf and pony is for Kenzie but she is not allowed to eat them as the story just doesn’t work without the magical goodies!
MaryJo says
We really love the movie How to Train Your Dragon, so any dragons would be great. I myself like the the Elf Ballerina, because my granddaughter wants to dance.
Kate Lloyd says
What a fabulous story! I love the language that kids use when they are describing a story. There always needs to be a few baddies. LOL
Entropy is AWESOME. I asked my little girl which figurines she would like and she pointed out every figurine listed (LOL). I personally adore the ‘young unicorn’ figurine because I’m a huge fan of unicorns. They are such gentle and mystical characters and often come to rescue of characters in trouble. :)
Ness - One Perfect Day says
Great story Noah! Oh wow Little Guy would adore some of those figures. He’s all about monsters and ogres. He’s had his on on the Galactic Cerberus for a while now. The scarier the better!
Jessica says
I would add a treasure chest, as my son loves to draw maps with a big X on them to mark the treasure. He could draw a map of the castle and hide the treasure chest in it.
Terri says
We’d set up the Weaponmaster Castle right next to our Rosebud Cottage, Peppa Pig and her alien friends would swing by to pick up the Papo Dancing Princess (in pink, of course) in the Moon Mobile for coffee at 10.
Linda says
Littlest man (3) wants to fill the castle with dinos, “that one” “that one” and “that one” because he loves dinos and according to him no one else does cause they are old like his mammy!!! And thats last time I’ll ask for his help picking characters….