Ideas and resources
This is a great activity that is perfect for today because it is National Fossil Day! Follow along with Mary Clare Walter’s directions at her Crafts for Kiddos blog and learn how to not only make fossils but also a flour based clay. First raid your kitchen cupboards to make the simple salt and flour dough and then search out a variety of animal toys. Create flattened mounds of clay and gently press each animal’s feet into a different mound.
Learn how to make your own Animal Track Fossils.
Leif Erikson Day is celebrated on Oct. 9, and it’s a great time to learn more about the Vikings and why we still remember Erikson all these years later.
If you don’t know about Leif Erikson (sometimes spelled Eriksson), he’s believed to have been born in Iceland, and is considered the first European to set foot on continental America, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
123 Homeschool 4 Me has a printable mini book about Leif Erikson and the Vikings for kids to read and color. It talks about who the Vikings were, what kind of ships they used, how they got to America and more. It’s a good overview for younger kids to use.
A good unit study is available from Simple Living Creative Learning, which includes a page where kids can write what they know, what they want to learn and what they learned through the unit, as well as information on the Vikings, longships, helmets, clothing and more.
Get a printable Viking unit study with reading passages, comprehension questions and other activities aimed at grades 4-8 from Creative Classroom Core at Teachers Pay Teachers. (And see more Vikings content from TPT here.)
Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus has some great unit study ideas, too, including suggested books and videos. The post includes information about the Viking voyages, society, mythology and ships, as well as some vocabulary and a list of famous Vikings. While you’re over there also check out her free printable lapbook, which includes mini books on ships, a timeline, a Viking women coloring page, draw your own Vikings, geography, ancient runes and more.
Piqolo Kids has a lesson on Viking women with (available for purchase) worksheets about a day in the life of Viking women. Even if you don’t grab the printables there’s some good resources on that page and a link to a video on Viking women.
Learn how to draw a Viking ship with instructions from Drawing How to Draw, or grab Vikings coloring and labeling worksheets from Kids Puzzles and Games.
There’s a Leif Erikson Festival annually in Norway, Michigan, which you can learn more about here.
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