We continued our journey through our history timeline with Vikings!
We have studied Vikings before when we were learning about Explorers but that was a while ago so the boys did not really remember it.
I had them read some of the same books we used the last time.
Voyage with the Vikings (AIO Imagination Station Books)
is a great introduction to Leif Eriksson and it touches on them going to America.
Viking Ships At Sunrise (Magic Tree House, No. 15)
is a great easy read from the Magic Tree House Series, my boys always enjoy reading those.
Stories in Time: Library Book Grade 5 Discovery of the Americas (Discovery of the Americans)
does a great job giving an overview of the known history of the Americas and does touch on Vikings. It does however start with evolution, just a heads up.
“Eric the Red” is a great detail book with so many neat things that made up there everyday life (at least that we know about).
The Vinland Map is a controversial piece of history and you know how much I enjoy teaching controversial history.
There is an interesting documentary about one side of the debate on Netflix right now called “Secrets: A Viking Map?”
The boys and I really liked it, even though I thought the program jumped to a few conclusions…
We used something new when we started our study on Vikings, Draw and Write Through History: The Vikings, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.
The boys really enjoyed learning how to draw a Viking ship!
They also did some cursive copy work about Vikings from the same book.
We did two crafts from the “Crafts from the Past: The Vikings” book.
I can only find used copies online for sale, it must not still be in print.
This one is a Runestone.
I thought it would really fun to do since we have a Viking Runestone in Oklahoma that we have visited.
The book actually said to use Styrofoam and have them carve out the runes but I did not have any so we used clay.
I had them carve out runes with toothpicks.
I really like how they turned out!
My youngest boy smashed his a bit when he decided to do both sides…
They also made a Viking Sun Compass from the same book.
If you want to really get an idea about how much we do not know about the Vikings, look up Viking Sunstone.
It is pretty amazing how good they were at navigating.
If your child really likes Viking weapons (like my boys), Netflix also has “Secrets of the Viking Sword” on instant view right now.
We read stories about Asgard and Thor of course because, you know, I have two boys…
They have several options of tales about Asgard for free download on Amazon.