Make A Gunpowder Plot WANTED Poster – Kids Craft Activity
On the 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes and a team of plotters tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament using gunpowder hidden in the cellars beneath the building. This conspiracy is now popularly known as the Gunpowder Plot.
Had the plot been successful, Guy Fawkes and his crew would have blown up the building and killed everyone inside, including King James I. But the plan was foiled. Guy Fawkes was caught in the act by the King’s soldiers and arrested.
But there were many other people involved in the Gunpowder Plot (see the picture above). As more details of the plot came to light, the government went on a search for the other plotters and ordered their arrest.
That’s where you come in! If the government are to find these pesky gunpowder plotters, we need to make some WANTED posters to spread the word.
Choose your favourite Gunpowder Plotter (maybe you could even do a WANTED poster for Guy Fawkes himself) and follow the instructions below to craft yourself an awesome WANTED poster:
You Will Need:
Thick A4 Paper
Ruler
Pencil
Pen (we used a fine-liner but a thin felt-tip would work too – make sure it’s not a washable one)
Rubber/Eraser
Blu Tack
Crayons (optional)
Printer (optional)
Optional extra:
Make your WANTED poster look old – find all the additional things you’ll need for this part of the craft on our “How To Make Paper Look Old” guide.
How To:
Step 1 – Draw or Print Your Template
We’ve created a WANTED poster template for you to print at home. You can download* it below. Get a grown-up to help you to download* the template and print it on a thick A4 sheet of paper using your home or school printer.
If you don’t have access to a printer, don’t worry! You can use your pencil and ruler to create a template like ours. First, write the word “WANTED” in big bold letters at the top of your A4 sheet of paper. Next, draw a rectangular box underneath this for your picture of Guy Fawkes. Then add lines underneath to write a description of Guy Fawkes and his crimes. You can also add a border around the edges of the page to make it look neat.
Step 2 – Draw a Picture of the Suspect
Using your pencil, draw a picture of your suspect in the rectangular box at the top of your WANTED poster. You can copy from a picture online or in a book (we used the picture at the top of this article for inspiration) or draw how you imagine they’d look.
Next, if you’re planning to make your paper look old and brown, it’s a good idea to go over the lines of your picture in pen to make them stand out. You can use a fine-liner or felt-tip pen for this – but make sure it’s not washable ink, otherwise the ink will run when you age the paper with water later. Use a rubber to erase any remaining pencil marks afterwards.
If you’re not planning to make your paper look old, you can colour in your picture with crayons instead.
Step 3 – Add the Crime Details
Fill in the details required on the lines below the picture. If you’re using our template, this will include the name of the suspect, their crime and their punishment. You could also add a reward for anyone who finds the suspect or the date the crime was committed.
If you want, you can use stylised writing, block writing or bubble writing. To do this, try it out in pencil first to make sure you get it just how you want it. Then go over it with pen. Make sure to rub out any pencil marks still showing afterwards with a rubber.
Step 4 – Make Your Paper Look Old (Optional)
If you want to make your poster look like it comes from 400 years ago when the Gunpowder Plot took place, you could follow our steps on how to make your paper look really old.
For full guidance on aging paper, check out our “How To Make Paper Look Old” craft here.
Step 5 – Display Your WANTED Poster
Pop some blu tack on the back of your poster and display it somewhere where everyone can see it. With the help of your poster, it won’t take long before those pesky Gunpowder Plotters are all arrested!
*Remember to check permission with an adult before downloading anything from the internet.
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