School craft ideas: home made Viking costume

World Book Day or the School assembly is at the door and you need to make a Viking costume. Sounds familiar? Mums and dads are often called upon to prepare all sorts of historical outfits for their offspring history lessons.

You don’t need to be an expert in Viking history. Maybe you are a fan of the TV series Beowulf and you love Vikings. Just take a look at some of our ideas and you will get a home-made Viking costume in no time which will be the envy of any assembly.

Making homemade Viking costumes isn’t that hard and can be done without a sewing machine using recycled material and old clothes.

Images to inspire you

The Typical Viking soldier – This is the paper which was sent to the parents to be inspired for the Viking costume homework

The Viking Helmet – it did not have horns as it is wrongly pictured in many books

The Viking shield

The Gods Thor and Freya

Udin – the most important God

Loki – The naughty and funny God – Diego loved this character and chose Loki as his Viking homework research subject

The Viking Costume and Accessories

The best way to make a Viking vest is by using an old suede jacket, fur, or faux-fur coat you own that you no longer wear. A furred vest would be ideal because it can usually stand on its own. To make a leather or suede jacket more interesting, use hot glue or a sewing machine to attach shiny bits of metal, or additional bits of fur or leather onto it. Old jewelry, belts, scarves that also can be used as belts, and even helmets or plastic axes.

Use old trousers in beige or brown. Colours should be limited as Viking costumes were not particularly bright.

My son Diego made his own shield, sword and helmet out of cardboard and alu-foil (lots of it! as you can see)

Diego’s friend bought the fur and helmet but made a great shield.

The Viking Costume Shoes

Any brown, black boots would do the trick. If you absolutely can’t find anything, try draping some leftover fabric over your shoes to disguise them.

 

For more information on Viking history – facts, stats and illustrations – check the BBC dedicated site Bitesize which is also used by the teachers at school. Their Vikings section is amazing.

If you are stuck and cannot be bothered to make a Viking costume, you can find excellent, inexpensive outfits at your local party shop or on eBay.