Resources: Pens and pencils. Optional: construction materials, scissors, and glue if building the Viking longships that the children design.
Research tool: This handout gives information about the different kinds of hull construction, hull shapes, methods of movement, and figureheads available across the history of ship-building. The second handout gives information about the items Vikings took with them on the longships for the challenge task.
Support Handout (1): The handout asks children to select the correct option for four key elements of longship construction and scaffolds their explanation about why they have chosen each option.
Core Handout (2): The handout asks children to select the correct option for four key elements of longship construction and asks them to explain why they have chosen each option.
Stretch Handout (3): The handout covers the same information as the core handout, but extends the children by asking them what each element would have helped the Vikings to do.
Challenge Handout (4): This handout provides space for children to record their research.
Use the starter slides to ask the children to recall what they learned about the raid on Lindisfarne in the previous lesson: Who lived there? Why was it raided? What happened during the attack?
Use the presentation slides to explore with the children why and how the Vikings travelled. They will learn that Vikings travelled for three main reasons: to raid, trade, and explore. The children will begin to understand that this affected how they designed their longships so they could sail across open waters, but also up narrow and shallow rivers. They will also be introduced to how the different parts of the ship were designed to do this, and how archaeological evidence has helped historians to understand longboat construction.
Using the handout and the first research tool provided, ask the children to act as longship engineers, making decisions about the design of each part of a longship so that it is suitable for the tasks of raiding, trading, and exploring.
Note: There is an opportunity here to allow the children to construct their longships after completing the mission assignment. Developing Experts recommends using cardboard and other construction materials to do so.
Challenge Task: Ask children to research and create a list of items that Vikings might have taken with them on a long sea journey. Would they have compasses or other navigation equipment? Where and how would they have slept? Where did they keep their belongings? They can use books or the internet for research, or the Developing Experts research tool that has been provided as a handout. There is also a handout available that children could use to record their research.
Ask the children to share the choices they made and discuss how accurate they were. Discuss and recap how these construction methods and designs made the Vikings one of the most seafaring groups of the time. Give the opportunity for those who did the challenge task to provide feedback - this is also a learning opportunity for those who didn’t get to the challenge.
Teacher Mastery
Vikings travelled for three main reasons: to raid, trade, and explore, and these purposes strongly influenced how they designed their ships. Their longships were built to travel quickly across open seas but also to move through narrow and shallow rivers, allowing them to reach inland settlements. The hulls were long, narrow, and shallow, which reduced drag in the water and made the ships fast and easy to manoeuvre. Longships used both sails and oars, meaning they could travel long distances using the wind or move steadily when conditions were calm or when navigating rivers. Many ships also featured carved figureheads at the front, which may have been used to intimidate enemies or show status. Archaeological discoveries, such as the Oseberg and Gokstad ships found in Norway, provide detailed evidence of longship construction, including clinker-built planks, steering oars, and flexible hulls, helping historians understand how Viking ships were so effective for raiding, trading, and exploration.
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