This Learning Block, Year 4 enjoyed an engaging trip to the Milton Keynes Discovery Centre at Bradwell Abbey this Learning Block, learning all about Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.
The trip was split into four small workshops, focusing on different aspects of Saxon/Viking life and culture.
The initial session focused on the Saxons and Vikings’ place in history, identifying how far back in time they lived. The children were familiar with the Saxons replacing the Romans in Britain and were surprised at how long ago that happened.
The next workshop looked at Vikings and their warrior culture. The children learned about different weapons, including swords, axes, flat bows and longbows. They also learned that only the wealthiest Vikings had swords, with most having spears instead.
In this session, the children also learned that the Vikings did not have money like we do today. Instead, they would trade items to acquire things they needed, including food, clothes and weapons.
The third session focused on the Saxons and their storytelling and language culture. The children enjoyed listening to, and acting out, the famous story of Beowulf before learning about the meaning of different Saxon words.
Then, they learned about runes and practised writing their own names using the runic system.
The final sessions looked at life in a Saxon home, where the children learned about the layout of a typical Saxon house, the jobs that people would do at home, and even looked at some styles of Saxon clothes.
Weaving was commonplace during Saxon times, in order for their clothes to be made, and the children learned about this before making friendship bracelets using string.
The children had a fun and enjoyable day at the MK Discovery Centre and some of them were kind enough to share comments on the experience.
“I really liked making the friendship bracelets!”
“The Vikings had cool weapons! The helmets and armour were really heavy!”
“Saxons had a funny way of writing. It was hard to spell some words, as they didn’t have all the letters!”
