My husband stayed with the boys by the castle, and I took the girls to the kitchen to become princesses. The boys were given their tunics and 'pouches' to put on, and told they had to 'earn' their swords and shields like a real knight throught tests of bravery and skill. Their first test- skill, was to toss three bean bags ( left over red felt cut out in the shape of shields, sewn, and filled with beans) into one of the cut out windows of the castle. can be made more or less difficult by the distance from the castle. once each child completed this they were given their sword with strict instructions not to hurt any one with it ( penalty was to be 5 minutes in the dungeon, but they were all careful with them). Their next test was one for bravery, they had to defeat a dragon. But this was no ordinary dragon this was bubble breathing dragon. They had to pop all the bubbles with their swords before they landed. They did this until my sister( who was dressed in green and had wings and a dragon mask I made out of green fun foam) was tired then she pretended to die. After that the boys got their shields.