Viking Unit Study - Games

Week 4: We played a game the Vikings used to play.

Nine Men Morris or Muhle is a strategy game played today. It was also played by the Vikings and other ancient peoples. During our Viking History Co-op we missed the week Viking games were studied, but after doing a little investigation, it turned out we actually owned the game. It was on the back of our backgammon board. Since we had a great time playing the Ancient Roman Game Tabula and Royal Game of Ur which dates to Mesopotamia, we knew we had to give Muhle a try.

Two players try to get three of their pieces in a row to create a Muhle. When a player successfully gets three pieces in a row he/she may remove one of the opponents pieces. When a player has only two pieces or cannot move the game is over and the other player has won. Here are the rules.

To see our other Viking Unit Study activities please visit our History Page.

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* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
 ** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Viking History Co-op. Books

We participate in a weekly homeschool history co-op which involves many hands-on crafts and activities. In conjunction with our Viking History Co-op we read many wonderful living books. Here are our favorite Viking Books in order of easiest to most difficult.



Magnus the Viking (The Adventures of Magnus the Viking) is a story about the Viking discovery of America.

From Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla we learned a lot about the Viking way of life.

Leif the Lucky taught us about the Viking discoveries of Greenland and America.

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths is filled with delightful stories of Norse Gods and their Adventures.

Viking Tales by Jeannie Hall is written in two parts. Viking Tales is also available free on the internet. From the first part we learned about Harold Fairhair and some Norwegian History, the second part was another story of the Vikings discovery of Greenland and America.

We really enjoyed reading these books and hope you will too!


To read more about our homeschool history co-op activities click on Homeschool History under Homeschooling Topics on the right-hand side of the blog, or one of the cultures below.

Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

History Co-op Writing Assignments - Vikings

A writing assignment was given most weeks of the Viking History Co-op. The children presented their work the week following the assignment.

 1.    If you were to take a long voyage to a new land as the Vikings did, what would you bring and how would you use it? Put pictures or descriptions of your items in your sack (envelope) and write on a separate piece of paper.
2.    Write instructions for how to make a cloak.
3.    Write about a day in the Viking village as if you are a:
         a.    Thrall
         b.    Bondsman
         c.    Karl
         d.    Jarl
Then tell which person you would prefer to be and why.
4.    Write a Viking rowing song
5.    Pick a Viking fighting name for yourself and write a story about how you got your name.


To read more about our homeschool history co-op activities click on Homeschool History under Homeschooling Topics on the right-hand side of the blog, or one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Viking History Co-op. Week 8: Food and Feast

Week 8: We made butter, prepared a Viking stew, and had a Viking feast complete with drinking horns and mead.

The Vikings ate a variety of grains, meats, fruits and vegetables including; wheat, barley, rye, venison, wild boar, fish, carrots, garlic, leeks, apples and berries and more. Their favorite drink was a weak honey beer known as mead. Horns of cows served as cups during Viking and medieval times. They were hallow, but couldn't be set on a table due to the curved shape.

Viking Stew

To make the stew each child was responsible for chopping or preparing one item. The soup included carrots, parsley, spinach, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaves, barley, and fish.

Everything was tossed into a large pot and boiled.

Home-Made Butter Activity for Kids
Making butter is a fun and easy child-friendly activity. All that's required is a carton of heavy cream, a glass jar and 20 minutes of energy.

After pouring the cream into the jar, 20 minutes of shaking results in butter and butter milk. Once the butter milk is poured off and the butter is rinsed, it's ready to be spread onto a slice of bread.

Mead for Kids

Kid friendly Mead recipe - apple cider and ginger ale

Drinking Horns for Kids

Drinking Horns - Start with a plastic cup. Tape aluminum foil stuffed with newspaper to the cup in the shape of a horn.

To read more about our history activities click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

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Saturday Show and Tell

Viking History Co-op. Week 7: Mythology

Week 7: We made Tree of Life Pendants.

Yggdrasil, was the Norse name of a giant ash tree connecting all worlds. An eagle lived at the top and guarded the tree. A destructive dragon lived beneath it's roots in Niflheim. The tree gave life to the people of Midgard and was the home of many creatures.

Since Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, was so central to Viking mythology, we created tree of life pendants.

Following the Tree of Life Pendants instructions, the kids slipped beads onto wires and wrapped them around the hoop constructed from thicker wire into the shape of a tree.

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Mythology describes each of the Viking gods and important aspects of Norse Mythology in a story format. It is great for kids, but I wouldn't recommend it for young children.


Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Viking History Co-op. Week 6: Warriors

Week 6: We made Viking shields.

Not all Vikings were brutal fighters. Some were peaceful farmers, blacksmits, wives and mothers. And, they didn't wear hats with horns? That style of dress was originally used to portray Vikings in a play in much more recent history.

On the other hand, some Vikings were fierce warriors. Their ships were lined with men rowing oars seated next to round shields. Most of their attacks took their enemies by surprise and they loved to attack religious establishments as they contained many treasures, but were not well guarded.

Dying in battle was respected, honorable and desired by Vikings. Those lucky enough to die fighting went to Valhalla where they fought all day and feasted all night.

In conjunction with learning about Viking warriors, we created Viking shields. Viking shields were round and constructed from metal with raised designs. Our shields were constructed from round pieces of cardboard found in pizza boxes.

They were adorned with glue droppings, lids from food containers and buttons to create raised areas.

Then they were painted.

Here are links to other hands-on history activities.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Viking History Co-op. Week 5: Viking Ships

Week 5: We made model Viking Ships.

The Vikings were explorers and traveled great distances in their ships. Shields and men lined the sides of the ships. Men sat on crates which doubled as storage containers and ate salted fish while on expeditions. The ships rode shallow in the water which allowed them to travel far inland on river. The shallow depth coupled with a team of men working together gave the Viking ships great speed.

Easily identified by the great dragons carved into ships, Viking ships were master works of art. They were carved from tail to tip with woven images. Sea fairing was so much a part of the Viking culture, and the Vikings were master ship builders.

Viking Ship Building Video is a short video which explains how Viking ships were constructed.

Since the Vikings had to work together to row their ships, the kids each grabbed part of a rope and worked to row together.

Our Viking Ships were constructed from a half an empty milk cartons for the frame, file folders for the ship head, tail and shields, string to hold up the mast, a small piece of wood for the mast, skewers for oars, lots of masking tape and some markers. Unfortunately, the video tutorial we followed is no longer available, but this How to Make a Model Viking Ship video shows a similar procedure. The main difference between the videos is that our ship frame was constructed from a milk carton cut in half with file folders glued onto the ends, whereas the one in the video was entirely from cardboard actually making it a bit nicer.

Viking history co-op. Week 3: Viking Society and Totems

Week 3: We designed our own personal totems and burned them into wooden cutting boards.

Kings, Jarls, Karls, Bondsmen and Thralls were all part of the Viking Caste System. It is very similar to the class system in medieval Europe. Jarls were the nobles. Karls were free men who practiced a trade such as farming and the smithy. Thralls and bondsmen were both slaves. Thralls usually became slaves after being captured in battle, whereas bondsmen were Vikings who couldn't pay their debt. They therefore became slaves until their debt was paid.

Here's a fun role playing activity for kids to gain a better understanding of the Viking Caste System.
1. Give each child a slip of paper with a colored dot. (one red dot, three blue dots, yellow dots for all other children).
2. The adult running the activity is declared king. The person with the red dot is the jarl, the blue dots are karls and the yellow dots are thralls.
3. Next the jarl must to swear allegience to the king, by bowing. The karls to the jarls and the thralls to the karls.
4. Then the king tells the jarl what to do... "find men for war". The jarl carries out the king's wishes and directs the karls. The karls carry out the jarls wishes and the thralls do what the jarls tell them.
5. Pass paper to child on left and repeat activity.

The Vikings had spiritual beliefs associated with animals. Different animals had characteristics which distinguished them. Some were thieves, some protected their young, some were showy, and others were fierce. Many of the ways animals are portrayed in fairy tales (the sly fox) we are familiar with, came from animal spirituality of past cultures known as totems. OOcities provides a long list of animals and their totem characteristics.

After learning about different totem animals, the children each chose animals they felt a kin to and designed a personal totem.

Then the totems were burned onto wooden cutting boards.

Viking history co-op. Week 2: Clothing (Spinning)

Week 2: We spun wool into yarn.

The Vikings wore warm clothes made of wool sheared from sheep. The book Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tommie de Paola does an excellent job of explaining the process of making clothes from sheep to cloak.

Beginning with clean wool, the wool was combed with wool carders to remove even more dirt and straighten the fibers. Wool carders are like big hair brushes with metal bristles. A dog brush can serve as a cheap carding tool for kids who want to try it out. I have purchased several products on-line from Mielke's Fiber and recommend them for trying these activities.

 

After wool sheared from a sheep has been cleaned and carded, it can be spun into yarn. Spinning yarn is actually quite simple as the only thing done is twisting the fibers. Wool can be spun by hand (as the girls are doing above), with a hand-held spindle, with a spinning wheel or using a machine.

During the time of the Vikings, wool was spun using drop spindles made from wood, bone or metal. There are several different types, but all work basically the same way. They have a rod to wind the yarn around, a disk to aid in spinning, and a hook to hold the yarn while the spindle is spun. The spindle above was made from an old CD.

Youtube has some great tutorials such as How to Spin Yarn with a Drop Spindle shown above.

Sometimes it's easier to learn to spin with a partner. One person can spin the spindle while the other can use their hands to learn the fiber pulling techniques.

After the time of the Vikings, advancements were made in technology and the spinning wheel was created. Early wheels were large and spun with the hand usually by walking a few steps forward an backward near the wheel. Professional spinners could walk miles a day next to the spinning wheel.

Later wheels introduced foot power. As the wheel I was using above was spun by the feet, fiber was pulled into the device. My hands were busy pulling the fiber in exactly the same way it was done on a drop spindle to prepare it for being twisted. Therefore, the hands and feet work simultaneously with a spinning wheel.

To read more about our hands-on educational activities please visit our Arts and Crafts Page and History Page.

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TGIF Linky Party

Viking history co-op. Week 1: Glitter Maps

Week 1: We created glitter maps.

The sea fairing people of the the north gained a bad reputation by the way they introduced themselves to new people. Back at home, they lived fairly peaceful lives as fishermen and farmers. Known for their fierceness in battle and uniquely designed ships, the Vikings were an interesting people to study.

The Vikings lived in Northern Europe primarily in the countries today known as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. There explorations brought them to many surrounding lands. Between the 8th and 11th centuries when the Vikings thrived, they were successful in taking over parts of France and Britain. They settled in Iceland and Greenland and even sailed to Canada. Their boats were shallow enough for them to venture far inland on rivers and they made an impact in Russia.

Therefore, our Viking glitter maps showed Europe, part of Canada and Russia.

Beginning with a paper map, glue was spread over regions of water and sprinkled with blue glitter. Once the excess glitter was shaken off the process was repeated with other colors of glitter used to represent areas of land.

To read more about our hands-on history activities click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China