Middle Ages Week 3: The Vikings, the Feudal System, & Castles

In this Post: Viking fun, food, and crafts. A magnificent chocolate castle cake, a homemade Hnefatafl viking game set, and more!

Dear ones, the vikings kicked our rump! What a week this was! We really did overkill. We crammed a  2 week Viking lapbook into 4 days and also did some of our Middle Ages lapbook. We won’t do so much next time.  We got this great Viking ship kit on sale at Barnes & Noble. It happens to be very complicated so we haven’t finished it yet. If we ever finish it, I’ll update this post.

We made drinking horns and had fake meade (gingerale and apple cider). I post my inspiration links at the end.  Michael wore a viking mask. We made Viking toilet paper roll people and for fun we watched How to Train Your Dragon. We continued with Story of the World of course and we watched more Monarchy. Seriously, the Vikings were mean!

I made our own Hnefatafl, viking game set. It’s similar to Chess but so much easier. You can find instructions online. I used leather and a sharpee for the board. Then I made game pieces out of clay. We had so much fun with this game. A piece is missing now. I think Annabelle ate it :(.

I was inspired by High Hill Homeschool’s tree of life pendent kit. I didn’t have a kit.  I made my pendent using gold wire and fake pearls.  I have a really old book collection passed down from my Aunt and  Dad. It’s a series of 12 books with fairy tales, legends, and history. I can find stories from all over the word in these books. I found a Norse tale that was similar to a Celtic story we had read in our new Celtic book. What a funny coincidence! Michael drew a really kewl dragon that I for some reason don’t have a picture of.

We also watched a Norse song being performed on youtube. The link is on my Pinterest.  Chris helped Michael make butter by shaking heavy cream in a bottle. It was very soft butter but tasty. Sadly, we didn’t have time for MLK Jr. crafts. Michael did however read “Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.?” I love the “Who Was?” series. Michael loves them too. MLK Jr. is one of the few heroes that I have a picture of hanging on my wall. I admired him growing up. After Michael finished the book he had a sour expression. He informed me that MLK Jr. was dead and that he was mad at the guy who killed him. I chuckled a little since obviously the Doctor has been dead for awhile. It’s just a new revelation to Michael. I’m glad he admires my hero too.

More after the pic….

We learned about the feudal system and how the English language developed. We

studied the process of becoming a knight and Michael made his own code of chivalry in the Middle Ages lapbook. I used M&M’s to show the distribution of wealth in the feudal system. Michael did a worksheet on the armor of God. I gave an object lesson on spiritual armor by using an orange. The orange with the peel (armor on) floated in the water but the peeled orange (without God’s armor) sank. It was a tasty lesson that got the point across. I peeled a little at a time and explained the process of slowly taking off our armor (willful sin, not praying, not reading God’s word because you don’t want to be convicted of the sin, and lastly losing faith).

We made a castle out of a box and tp rolls.  Michael watched a youtube video on the parts of a castle.  Monarchy showed us how stone castles came from the Normans (French Vikings) in the UK. William the Conqueror also brought the idea of knights and the Feudal System in the UK.

I threw in the Lego picture for fun. I moved Michael’s Lego table under his bed and it works better. Michael played the Lego Castle Adventure online. He was able to design his own Coat of Arms.

I hope you take a good look at it because this was my favorite: the chocolate castle cake. I made mine smaller than the inspiration and it’s not as professional. But I’m sure it tasted just as good.  I only used one box of cake mix but I used two tubs of chocolate frosting. I used half a bag of generic chocolate creme cookies for the towers. I used several mini candy bars. I used sprinkles for the grass. My guys were impressed!

Well, join me next time for Robin Hood and the Crusades! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~ Amber Dover

Vikings Lapbook:  http://www.currclick.com/product/1035/Vikings-Lapbook

Middle Ages Lapbook: http://www.currclick.com/product/1065/Middle-Ages-Lapbook

Middle Ages Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-middle-ages-renaissance/

Netflix links for Story of the World: http://terishepard.com/2013/08/06/story-of-the-world-netflix-resources/

Viking TP People: http://www.layers-of-learning.com/viking-people/

Tree of Life Pendant: http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.de/2011/12/viking-history-co-op-week-7a-mythology.html

Viking Drinking Horn: http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.de/2011/12/viking-history-co-op-week-7b-food-and.html

Viking Mask: http://www.hellokids.com/c_12033/kids-crafts-and-activities/masks-crafts/people-masks-for-kids/viking-mask

Feudalism Chart for M&M’s: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620782060/

Chocolate Castle Cake: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620782127/

Armor of God worksheet: http://www.sermons4kids.com/armor_of_god_decoder.htm

Lego Castle Adventure: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/castles/games.php

More Medieval posts of mine:

Middle Ages Week 1: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Middle Ages Week 2: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-2-japan-and-the-franks/

Middle Ages Week 4: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-4-robin-hood-the-crusades/