Viking School Workshops in Greater Manchester
Turn your school grounds into a Viking learning experience
Looking for a Viking experience for your KS2 pupils without organising an off-site school trip?
The History Guy delivers Viking school workshops throughout Greater Manchester, bringing an immersive historical environment, practical activities and archaeology directly to your school.
A large Viking-style yurt becomes the setting for the day. Inside and around it, pupils explore objects, materials and practical skills connected with people living during the Viking Age.
The result is a history day where children can investigate, make, handle, move and experiment – while remaining on the school site.
A school trip experience without the coach
Organising an educational visit for several classes can mean transport, additional staffing, risk assessments and considerable time away from school.
The History Guy works differently.
The experience travels to you.
Once the historical area is established on your school grounds, groups can take part throughout the day without the logistical demands of transporting pupils to a museum or visitor attraction.
This makes the workshop particularly useful for Greater Manchester primary schools looking for a substantial enrichment experience that can take place on site.
Learning about Vikings by doing
Practical activities form a major part of the workshop.
Pupils can explore the runes used during the Viking Age before making their own examples in clay. They can investigate the long process behind producing clothing by trying wool carding, spinning and weaving.
Through Viking games and physical challenges, children encounter competition, coordination and teamwork in a very different historical setting.
Then there is the shield wall.
Working together, pupils discover that carrying a shield isn't enough. Organisation, communication and cooperation become essential when a group is expected to move and respond as one.
An interactive Viking trading activity introduces another side of the period, encouraging pupils to think about travel, resources, valuable goods and the connections that stretched far beyond Britain.
Warriors, traders, craftspeople and families
The popular image of the Vikings tends to concentrate on warriors and raiders.
The archaeological evidence reveals a much broader world.
During the day, pupils are encouraged to think about the different people who made Viking society work. Farmers produced food. Craftspeople turned raw materials into useful objects. Textile workers transformed wool into clothing. Merchants travelled and exchanged goods across enormous distances.
Even apparently simple objects could require considerable time and skill to produce.
Looking at these different roles helps children build a picture of Viking society that goes beyond helmets, swords and longships.
What can archaeology tell us about the Vikings?
How do we know what somebody wore a thousand years ago?
How can we tell where people travelled?
And what happens when the evidence archaeologists discover is incomplete?
The History Guy is run by Pete Forrester, a trained archaeologist with more than 15 years' experience in outdoor education, bushcraft and practical historical learning.
Throughout the workshop, objects and materials are used to encourage pupils to think like archaeologists.
Instead of simply being given historical facts, children are encouraged to observe evidence, suggest explanations and ask questions about what might have happened in the past.
It helps reinforce an important part of studying history: how we know what we know.
Viking workshops across Greater Manchester
The History Guy travels to primary schools throughout Greater Manchester, including Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton and Wigan, as well as surrounding communities.
Because the workshop comes directly to the school, pupils can experience an unusual historical environment without needing to travel into Manchester or further afield for a heritage visit.
The yurt and equipment create a dedicated space for the experience, helping separate the history day from an ordinary classroom lesson.
Supporting your KS2 Viking topic
The workshop is designed primarily for Key Stage 2 and can be incorporated at different stages of a school's Viking topic.
Use it to launch a new unit and give pupils experiences they can refer back to in subsequent lessons.
Bring it into the middle of a topic once children already have questions they want to investigate.
Or use the workshop towards the end of a unit, when pupils can compare what they've learned in the classroom with practical activities and archaeological evidence.
Whichever approach works for your school, the aim remains the same: to make the Viking Age something pupils can actively explore.
Bring a Viking workshop to your school
If you're planning a Viking topic at a primary school in Greater Manchester, The History Guy can bring the experience directly to you.
Get in touch to discuss your year groups, pupil numbers and available dates.
The History Guy – hands-on history, practical archaeology and immersive learning for schools.