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How to do Viking village school projects

  • Leader
    June 15, 2021

    Archaeologists have discovered Viking villages in several places, from Sweden to Canada. Each excavation reveals more information about the culture of these maritime tribes. Vikings were warriors, traders, and settlers. Your students can take online tours of Viking villages on sites like PBS or the BBC. Class projects can complement your Vikings lessons to make learning more interactive and interesting. Teach students to write their name on Futhark, using Viking runes. Create a handout showing each of the Futhark runes, the sound they represent, and their name. You can make your own document from online sources like NOVA Online or Ancient Scripts Online. You can also download a pdf of the alphabet at Lexicology. Have students make a name tag using Futhark. Then ask everyone to bring their ID badge to the front. Callone student at a time, give them an ID badge, and ask them to find the person they own. Make a list of significant events in Viking history. Have students research when these events took place. Then ask them to create a timeline using a tree circle. Earlier events should be closer to the center of the tree, while later events should be on the outer rings of the tree. Discuss with the students how scientists have dated the things they find in Viking villages. Provide older students with woodworking tools, woodworking and fabric pieces. Divide them into teams. Have a team build a model of a Viking ship and a poster to explain how the Vikings depended on their ships. Have a second team build a Viking meeting room and a poster to explain how it was built. Have a third team build a model of a Viking wharf and a poster to explain how it was built. Discuss with the students the types of foods that scientists believe the Vikings ate, based on the types that have been found at archaeological sites in the Viking Village. Have students create a menu for a Viking feast. Download the BBC Viking Explorer game. Divide students into groups of four to six. Give each group a copy of the game and explain the rules. Give students half an hour to an hour to play the game. Then discuss what they learned about Viking culture from the game. Read a Viking saga to the class. Discuss the style of storytelling exhibited in the saga. Explain the importance of sagas to Viking culture. Have students write a Viking-style saga on the topic of their choice. Once the sagas have been written,have students pronounce them in a speech like the Vikings would have done around fires and in party halls.