Join us as we sail into a fun history lesson about the vikings for kids. This explorers for kids is the start of our hands-on history for kids Unit. In this all about explorers we pretended to be early explorers with engaging viking activities, made a HUGE DIY Viking boat, created some viking crafts for kids, fun-to-read viking books for kids, and more! Plus, don’t miss the free viking printables. Simply download pdf file with viking lapbook and viking worksheets and you are ready to play and learn!
Vikings for Kids
Kids are naturally curiuos about famous people in history, especially those with iconic things like viking hats and viking ships! We began our explorers for kids lesson by learning about the notorious sailors from Scandanavia with vikings for kids. In this 5 week lesson all about explorers we make a HUGE DIY viking ship, viking activities, lots of viking books, and comlete our viking lapbook with the free printables below.
Explorers for Kids
THis is the first week of our hands-on homeschool history unity on early explorers for kids you will learn about the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, Magellan, and more. It also includes free printable labook with timeline and famous explorers to help elementary kids retain the information they’ve learned.
Start by scrolling to the bottom of the post, under the terms of use, and click on the text link that says >> Download <<. The pdf file will open in a new window for you to save the freebie and print the template.
Viking Activities
We made a sword from cardboard & foil We were going to make a Viking hat, but realized we had one in our dress up clothes instead. This is the durable Viking helmet we own. We made our round shield from a (pizza) box & foil
DIY Viking Boat
We used our box to create, as close as we could, a kid-size replica of a Viking ship. It was fun to make over Christmas break when Daddy was around to help us too!
- our ship is brown as the ships were made of wood (We left out the animal fat to make the space between the wood water resistant =-)
- ship shape allowed the Vikings to have the fastest ships of their time.
- retractable oars – just like the Vikings for when the weather was bad.
- shields – we lined the sides with shields like Vikings did for additional protection and storage for their fitting shields.
- intimidating dragon on the front of our ship to scare away the towns we went to pillage – Vikings usually had dragons or snakes.
- personal belongings – kids sat on a trunk that held their belongings for the journey (change of clothes, food, and bucket to hold drinking water or bail out water from the ship.
- ruder at the back for the helmsman to steer the ship away from rocks or icebergs. Pretty cool, huh?
Vikings History Comes Alive
We did a history activity, we rowed from Greenland to America just like Leif Erikson, ate grapes & called it Vineland (although the Vikings really found blueberries, but they thought they were grapes), and then eager to take home wood & grapes we rowed back to Greenland.
Vikings Coloring Sheet
We colored in the Viking pictures from the Exploration of North American Coloring Book. This wonderful coloring book is only $3.95 and includes coloring pages & information for 39 North American explorers – great for younger children to learn alongside elementary age homeschoolers.
Watched Vikings Veggies Tales
We wateched Veggie Tales: Lyle the Kindly Viking. This is a great gentle introduction to the historic Vikings for younger learners (ages 2-6). Then we practiced pillaging other lands like the Viking Pirates did. We would arrive at dawn, yell as we got off our boat, take supplies, burn the buildings (no we didn’t really do that part), and got back in our boat and sailed for home.
Did you know they were so feared the King of France gave the Vikings Normandy so they wouldn’t pillage any of the rest of France?
Viking Map Activity
For our viking mapping activity we found key countries on a map: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland (Erik the Red) , North America (Leif Eriksson), and Normandy France. This printable is in my lapbook pack you can download above.
Vikings books for Kids
We did this unit when my kiddo was in first grade so we used a simple reader. But this unit is adapatable to all kids in elementary school. Pick the book(s) that fit your child’s reading level best.
After reading about Leif Erickson, we wrote down key points in the story. Then Goofy ordered them – 1st, 2nd, Next, Then, Finally.
Viking Activities for Kids
The kids loved this cute Viking Maze
Viking Arts and Crafts
Made Viking Mask (click to go to template we used)
Other fun resources include:
- Makee Viking Recipes (I always enjoy cooking food from other countries!)
- Viking Information for kids online
- Videos about Vikings (boats, cities, and more)
Vikings Lapbook
The free early explorers labpbook and timeline contains key points about the different explorers on cards as well as free early explorer worksheets for kids.
Note: I will be making this free printable, along with some fun worksheets, for each of the explorers we study. I am making the lapbook into a timeline – here is our lapbook with our first Explorer.
Viking Worksheets
And if you have little ones make sure you check out my Early Explorers Worksheets so your little one can join in on the fun too!
Continue on with this fun early explorers unit by joining in the rest of the early explorer lessons:
- Vikings for Kids – Learn about the life of a Norwegian Viking by making your costume, shield, and longship. Help kids remember what they discovered in Greenland and where it got it’s name. Learn about geography with a simple mapping activity and begin your free explorers lapbook.
- Marco Polo for kids and Henry the Navigator Lesson – Kids will love walking the silk road just like Marco Polo did. They will discover silks, make spice paintings, use math to calculate the distance he traveled, taste Chinese food, and continue adding to their explorers lapbook. Make your own working compass as you learn about Prince Henry The Navigator.
- Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Vespucci for Kids – Play a fun game to learn about being the captain of a ship, make your own hour glass, and learn to draw the Nina, la Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Then retell the adventures of Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Vespucci to reinforce what you’ve learned. Also included in the explorers printables are explorers writing prompts and more to add to your explorers lapbook.
- Magellan and The Spanish Conquistadors for Kids – Map Magellan’s route around the globe, learn about Spanish Conquistadors, discover the Aztec culture, and make some Aztec pottery. Use the explorer worksheets to practice mapping and see how dangerous being an explorer really was. And last, but not least, add these famous explorers to your lapbook.
- Drake, Cartier, & Henry Hudson Kids – Learn about Drake (the English pirate who was the second explorer to go around the world), Henry Hudson who was sent to discover a passage to Asia but died in the Hudson bay instead, and Cartier who discover the St. Lawrence River. Finish by adding your renaming elements to your free explorer lapbook and taking time to use the free printable explorer review sheets to review what you’ve learned.
History Lessons for Kids
Check out one of or MANY engaging, Free history lessons for kids
- Explore American History for kids including lots of fun, hands on activities and free printables
- Dive into Mesopotamia History to learn about Gilgamesh
- 4 week lesson about Early Explorers for Kids
- Learn about castles, knights, and more in this exciting Middle Ages for Kids
- Make a teepee, dig for arrowheads, color our printable books and more in this Native Americans for Kids lessons
- The Colonial America for Kids lesson takes kids on a journey back to the first permanent settlement in America – Jamestown. Students will learn about colonial life with lots of hands on projects like eating Gruel, making a Wattle & Daub house, and creating a tin lantern will make the settlement come alive.
- We will make westward expansion for kids come alive for kids as they learn facts about the time period from about 1783-1898. In addition to learning about the Oregon trail, pony express, gold rush, transcontinental railroad, students will also learn to match animal trails, map the united states, and learn about North American animals too.
- Civil War for Kids – students will learn about slavery, famous Americans from the Civil War, famous battles, and how our nation stayed together. Lesson includes printable worksheets, mapping activities, printable civil war board game and more!
- Learn about US States for Kids – state coloring pages, president coloring pages, state report forms, states and capital printables, and so much more!
- Learn about the Roaring 1920s for Kids – Printable Book to Read, Color, and Learn
- Rosa Parks for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
- Martin Luther King Jr for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
- 1950s for Kids Reader to Color, Learn and read about what life was like in America in 1950
Looking for more resources and free worksheets to teach students about geography for kids? You will love these coloring sheets, printable maps, books, activities and games:
- Free Printable Maps including world map, continents, and country maps with and without labeling
- 16 Countries for Kids Printables
- Ove 30 FREE Country Worksheets for kids to learn about countries around the world
- Learn about the countries for kids with these free resources
- Help kids understand where do I live with this clever printable activity
- Super cute, Free printable India for Kids Book to color, read, and learn!
- China for Kids Printable Book helps kids learn about this large, populous country famous for the great wall of china, Terra Cotta Warriors, and the Forbidden city
- Join us for a fiesta as we learn about Mexico for Kids including delicious food, Mayan temples and more!
- Explore Venezuela for Kids with the beautiful Angel Falls and delicious Arepas in this printable mini book
- Learn about the fascinating country of South Africa for kids and its fascinating wildlife.
- You can find all our country coloring pages coloring pages or jump right to Spain Coloring Pages, China Coloring Pages, Italy Coloring Pages, Chile Coloring Pages, and Costa Rica Coloring Pages
- Children around the World Worksheets
- Country Coloring Book – explore 36 countries with country coloring pages
Viking Printables
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