Exploring Viking Life Through Artifacts and Storytelling

An invitation to a pop-up museum experience in Room 201 recently gave Middle School visitors a chance to step into the world of the Vikings, exploring student-made artifacts and modern storytelling inspired by Norse history. The exhibit represented three weeks of research and hands-on work, with students drawing on books, videos and a variety of sources to bring elements of Viking life into the present day.

In Leah Judd’s Humanities 8 class, students were given the option to work individually or in pairs to explore one of six research prompts, then translated their findings into a visual artifact. Projects ranged widely in form and material from carved stones and recreated longships to hand-built dioramas, timelines, helmets and early forms of footwear. One helmet, created using a 3D printer, had streaks of red painted across it to echo the realities of Viking battle, a small example of the enthusiasm and dramatic flair students brought to their work.

An interactive map timeline was also on display, with a laptop showing the expansion of Viking influence across Europe year by year. With each keystroke, the map shifted to reveal changing borders, battles and settlements, showing that alongside handcrafted artifacts, students could also represent their learning through digital tools.

Ms. Judd joined in the creative process as well, building a replica Viking ice skate as a demonstration piece. Inspired by artifacts on display at the Viking Museum in York, her model helped students understand how research, interpretation and craftsmanship come together when creating an exhibit item and its accompanying note.

Each display was paired with an exhibit card explaining the artifact’s historical significance, encouraging students to think like museum curators as they presented their learning. The assignment offered meaningful choice and invited students to demonstrate their understanding in diverse ways. Creating for a real audience through the pop-up museum encouraged them to consider how visual storytelling can engage others and deepen understanding.

Comic Strips Explore Viking Identity

As part of the showcase, Sarah Ferrante’s Humanities 8 class contributed a modern, 2D approach. Students created collaborative comic strips that examined the essential question at the centre of their Viking unit: Were Vikings brutal barbarians or adventurous explorers? Using the GRAPES framework (Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economy, Social Structure), each pair developed a shared storyline told from two contrasting points of view. One page illustrated the perspective of a brutal barbarian; the other reimagined the same events through the lens of an adventurous explorer. This format encouraged students to explore bias, point of view and historical interpretation while still engaging in creative narrative design.

Taken together, the artifacts and comic strips created an engaging and richly layered museum experience. Whether through a carved stone, a model longship, a replica ice skate or a vividly illustrated narrative, students explored the complexities of Viking identity and the many ways history can be understood through perspective, creativity and inquiry.