Roman Centurion Helmet: A Fun and Creative Project

As part of our Ancient Rome unit, my family decided to take on a fun project - creating a Roman centurion helmet! With the helmets complete, it's clear that a shield is the next essential piece to complement their fighting gear.

Our inspiration for these helmets came from the Montefortino style, which was worn by soldiers in the armies of the Republic during the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC. We chose to make our helmets conical in shape and brass-colored, just like the original Roman centurion helmets.

To create our helmets, we used balloons as the base, covering them with paper mache. This allowed us to achieve the desired shape and structure for our helmets. Once the paper mache was dry, we painted the helmets gray to resemble metal helmets.

Next, we added a chin cover using different fabrics from my stash. We cut out the fabric pieces, allowing them to dry before cutting around the ears. The helmets were then adorned with a plume in the center and a neck guard made from a cut-out paper plate.

To make the glue thinner, we mixed white glue with a bit of water, which worked well for our project. Lucas used an acrylic leather-type piece, while Siena chose to use leftover fabric from jeans. We were all pleased with how our helmets turned out, even if they did take some trial and error to get the size just right.

In the end, we learned that creating a Roman centurion helmet is a fun and creative project that requires patience and attention to detail. And who knows - maybe one day we'll even create shields to complement our helmets!

Roman centurion helmet yellow