The Vikings are here! @lakesidearts #nottingham #education #vikings #britishhistory

Lakeside Arts have a fantastic Viking exhibition on in their Djanogoly gallery at the moment.

Taking over three rooms there is lots to see including interactive displays, dress up areas, video, audio, cabinets displaying artefacts as well as original Viking carvings. This is open to the public and definitely worth a visit.

They also run some brilliant workshops for schools and I went along with school to experience two of the workshops for ourselves!

We were met from the tram by Josie from the education team who led us to the gallery. After depositing bags, coats and lunchbox we were led, through the cosy cafe area, to the gallery space where we were introduced to our guide for the session. She showed us how to make a little booklet from a sheet of large paper and then the children were let loose to find out four facts about Vikings they didn’t know before.

The displays have handy “Fun Facts” around the gallery so the children were soon scribbling away.

After gathering and then sharing some facts together, we looked a bit more closely at the Viking carvings. It is a shame, though totally understandable given their age and how precious they are, that we couldn’t touch them as they are so tactile!

The children then used their handmade notebooks to sketch out some of the carvings. They were mostly fairly simple though some looked pretty intricate and I can imagine would have been hard to carve in the stone especially given the primitive tools they had.

Now for the really fun part! The children now has the opportunity to create their own carvings! This time with soap using pencil and some basic tools. They found this lots of fun though it did look very tricky! It was also something unique that they wouldn’t normally do in the classroom.

After lunch in one of the art studios in Lakeside Arts it was time for some drama with Viking Sagas! We were introduced to two Vikings and the children took part in a role play using mime and “actors” exposing the truth behind the Vikings and their adventures! There was lots of class participation and interaction and they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The children also learned a very simple tradition game played by the Vikings which they really enjoyed and they planned to make one themselves and play at school.

Lakeside Arts has some brilliant workshops for schools – I love the sound of the Viking Bushcraft one. There are also some lovely family activities going on at weekends that we will be planning on visiting I love things like this that really bring learning to life!

 

Have you visited Lakeside Arts recently? Would you enjoy this exhibition and workshop?

 

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