This is the beginning of our Early Epxlorers history for kids Unit. In this free 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.

History for Kids

Here are more of our fun, hands on history units for kids:

Vikings for Kids

In order to get to the Aztecs & Westward Expansion before our road trip(s) we started at the beginning of America – Early Explorers. I had been planning this unit ever since we built our shed this summer & had a HUGE box leftover. I quickly claimed the box & made us store it in the garage until now.

Viking Costumes for Kids

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 Vikings Ship from Cardboard Box

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 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.

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.

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 Mapping 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.

Viking Reading Comprehension

After reading Leif Erickson we wrote down key points in the story. Then Goofy ordered them – 1st, 2nd, Next, Then, Finally.

Review Explorers all Month

We used the Explorers Calendar Connection from 1+1+1=1 (using all month to highlight various explorers) – If you have the same calendar I do (Learning Resources) just print them at 90% of the size in print options.

Printable Viking Fun for Kids

Viking Maze (Goofy had fun with this. Click to get your own)

Made Viking Mask (click to go to template we used)

– Made Viking Recipes (I always enjoy cooking food from other countries!)
– Viking Information for kids online
– Videos about Vikings (boats, cities, and more)

Viking History Books for Homeschool Kids

We always read LOTS of good books!! Below are my favorites – we read each and every one from our local library and we own: the exact Viking hat, cute Veggies Tales video, and Exploration of North America Coloring book (great resource to use with all of our exploration unit!)

FREE Early Explorers Lapbook & Timeline

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.