Ideas for living history activities for studying Vikings?

This year, I'll be teaching  Hands-On Medieval History. I'll have various classes, spanning Kindergarten through 8th grade. My goal is--kind of like with SkIP--to teach as many cool historical skills as possible. I had wanted the kids to carve soapstone molds for me to pour pewter into, so they can cast metal like the Vikings did. But, the more I look into it, the more expensive it is seeming. Most of the kids who signed up for my class really wanted to learn about Vikings, so I'll spend a few months studying the Norse.

So, I need some other ideas for Viking crafts. Something boat related would be cool, but what? Maybe something related to Norse mythology (*note to self: research Norse mythology more*).

Here's what I've got planned for the year thus far:

Era	Subject	Activity
Fall of Rome/Early Medieval ~476-800
	Beowulf (stories before writing)	Write an Alliterative poem
	King Arthur	Quill & Ink (Medieval European writing)
	Eastern Roman Empire	Make a mosaic (hopefully with actual stone!)
	Ancient China?	Sand casting by having kids make chocolate castings in brown sugar
	Islam & Islamic Golden Age	???
	Charlemagne/Vikings (800-1066)	Make a drop spindle
		spin wool yarn
		dye wool yarn
		Carve soapstone welding sticks with runes
High Medieval 1066-1300
	Norman Conquest & Crusades	Design a coat of arms
	Robin Hood	Paint coat of arms
	Crusades	Design a seal
	Magna Carta	Write a medieval document (law, letter, decree)
		Color wax and use yarn to make a pendant seal on medieval document
Late Medieval 1300-1492
	History of Paper/Parchment	Book Binding: Make Paper
		Book Binding: Sew signatures
		Book Binding: Make feather paint brushes (finish sewing signatures)
	Medieval illumination	Book Binding: Brainstorm/sketch illuminated letter/story
		Book Binding: Apply cover
	Medieval pigments	Book Binding: Paint Illuminated Letter with egg tempera
		Book Binding: Gild Illuminated letter
		Book Binding: Design cover
		Book Binding: Decorate Cover
	Medieval food & Medicine	Plant a medieval garden?
	Marco Polo	Make a map
	Henry the Navigator	Navigating with Mariner's Quadrant
	Christopher Columbus	Make a medieval ship from clay
	Silk Road	Silk Road Trading Game

(The High Medieval Era still needs organization. I'm going to cover the Genghis Khan, Canterbury Tales, the Black Death, the fall of Constantinople, etc. But, I'm still figuring out how I want to organize that section of the year. I'll probably just do "general medieval life" stuff, followed by historical events. I'm not sure, though.)

Medieval subjects I haven't manage to cover: Warfare, castle building, medieval trades, more I can't think of.

I really want to do something cool and epic for Vikings, and I know making spindles isn't "Viking" enough. Any ideas?

Hand manipulated weaving was big with vikings.   Warp weighted loom was common, but the coast salish weaving frames have the same technique but easier to transport and set up.

I'm really tempted to teach tablet weaving, but I'm trying to keep a decent balance of skills learned. They'll be doing a big section on spinning wool (make clay whorls, assemble and decorate spindle, spin wool, dye wool), so I worry that more fiber arts might be too much?

The skills the kids learned the year before, in Ancient history, were:

Ancient History wrote:Clay work:

• Clay pots
• Clay cuneiform tablets
• Clay game pieces for Royal Game of Ur,
• clay toys modeled after the Indus Valley clay toys

Painting:

• Cave art with raw ochres, chalk, and charcoal
• Watercoloring Royal Game of Ur
• Watercolor on plaster for hieroglyphs
• Watercolor on papyrus to design Egyptian god/goddess bookmark
• Watercolor frescos

Fiber Arts:

• Making twine from daylillies and nettles. Nettle stomping fun!
• Harvesting cotton from cotton bowls when learning about India
• Watching me spin linen thread for their papyrus Egyptian god/goddess paintings
• Making leather pouches
• Tying "bamboo" slats to make bamboo scrolls
• Wet felting "pot holders" in the style of the nomadic steppe's felting
• Making quipus--twinning and knotting yarn

Writing:

• Making clay cuneiform tablets
• Painting Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Painting chinese characters

Other:

• Paper mache Greek masks (never again!)
• Beading bracelets with lapis, clay, carnelian, agate beads
• Carving cuneiform seals in crayons

Seeing that list, it was pretty textile heavy...because I love textiles! And, textiles are super important throughout history. I just sneakily want to give the kids a wide range of skills, and appeal to as many different interests as possible.

Maybe I need to think about what skills I haven't taught them? My history classes are currently a 3-year cycle. After this year will be Age of Exploration. Here's the skills they'll learn in that:

Age of Exploration History wrote:Writing:

• Writing with quill and ink
• 17 century letter folding
• Making a botanical journal like Lewis & Clark

Metal working:

• Metal stamping (making colonial coins)
• Metal punched tin can candle holders

Clay working:

• Making clay candlesticks

Fiber Arts:

• Embroidering a pouch
• Sewing a pouch
• Spinning/dying yarn for pouch string
• Lashing sticks together to form kite frame

Painting:

• Painting flags
• Painting kites
• Making chalkboard paint and painting wood with it.

Botany:

• Wildcraft to learn about medicinal plants
• Drinking spruce tea (made from western hemlock needles)
• Making soap balls
• Plant ID and drying flowers for Lewis & Clark journal.

Other:

• Dipping candles
• Making chalk

What skills are the kids missing? Woodworking is hard to do, because knives+school = not good. They will be sanding their spindles, so that...something. I really wanted to do pewter casting, but the cost is high. Hopefully "sand casting" with chocolate and brown sugar is a good substitute. What traditional skill sets am I missing here?