Vikings Unit Study

2. Discuss Viking families. Grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles and cousins all lived together in the same village. Compare this to your family.

3. Compare Viking life to your life. What similarities are there? What differences?

5. Continue working on your Viking costume. Make a Viking tunic. Measure your child's arm span from finger tip of right hand to fingertip of left hand. Measure from child's neck to knees. Measure across the widest portion of your child's torso and add about 10 -15 inches to this for a loose fit. Make a pattern of a cross with these measurements. Cut out your cross pattern out of fabric. Fold it in half and sew together to make a tunic. Cut a whole at the top to make your collar. Cut out another strip of fabric for a belt.

2. Discuss Viking houses. What were Viking houses made of? Why didn't Viking houses have windows?

3. Make a Viking longhouse. Include a smokehole. Be creative and add decorations. You can even add furniture if you'd like.

You will need brown construction paper, decorative moss (which you can buy in the floral department where imitation flowers are sold), glue, a shoebox, and pipecleaners.

Take brown construction paper and cover your shoebox.
Use another sheet of construction paper and cut slits in it about one inch apart leaving room on the ends to glue to your shoebox. Cut another piece of construction paper into one inch strips. Weave the paper into your slitted construction paper.
Use pipecleaners to make a frame for your roof. Bend one in half and make a triangle shape. Glue each end to the top side of the shoebox. Repeat this with another pipecleaner at the other end of the shoebox.
Take another pipecleaner, or two, depending on the length of your shoebox. Wrap this at the point of your triangle and go all the way across to the other side of the box and wrap around the other point of the triangle. This should make a frame for your roof
Glue the construction paper to the shoebox going over your roof frame.
Use decorative moss and glue on your longhouse to make a more decorative effect.

2. Discuss the following. Did the Vikings believe in God? Who was the most important Viking God? What was Valhalla?

3. The Vikings believed that thunder and lightening came from Thor riding his chariot across the skies. Another word for this type of story is a myth or folktale. A myth is a story that explains events in nature or why something came to be. Create your own myth. Include a title for your myth and cover page. Make sure to add pictures from your story to your cover page.