To see instruction on how to build a paper mache map click here.
Once the paper mache map had been painted and left to dry, the children were ready to begin pictorially displaying some of the learning they had done about the Anglo Saxons.
Offa’s Dyke
Offa’s Dyke, named after one of the strongest rulers of 8th century Mercia, is a long earthwork roughly splitting England and Wales. It was created with a large ditch on Wales’ side and built up on Mercia’s side. This allowed Mercia unbridled views of Powys, Wales. The dyke was meant to keep Mercia safe from attack:
We created a trench and painted it brown to represent Offa’s Dyke (as shown in the photo above).
Anglo Saxon Village at Stowe
We had learnt about a typical Anglo Saxon village in the following book, which is based on a living museum of an actual Anglo Saxon farm in Stowe, East Anglia:
And a picture of the actual village:
We attempted to create our own village for the map:
The children also learnt about the burial site at Sutton Hoo. The following photo shows the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo:
I also found a reconstruction of the warrior’s ship burial and its contents:
And it was this we tried to replicate using Playmobil:
Here is the map showing the an Anglo Saxon village, a warrior’s ship burial and of course Offa’s Dyke:
And finally our map with Offa’s Dyke, an Anglo-Saxon village, the burial at Sutton Hoo and a ship for good measure; all complete with signs which I made out of a cocktail stick, a sticky label folded over the cocktail stick and a small piece of plasticene. Oh and we labelled the surrounding countries from which the Angles and the Saxons had sailed (Denmark and Germany). This was a great, if time consuming, way to learn about the important geographical and archaeological aspects of the Anglo-Saxons:
Look out for our next post on the Anglo Saxon’s clothes which will be out sometime soon 🙂
Other Anglo Saxon Posts
Literature Study: Beowulf – Part One
Literature Study: Beowulf – Part Two
Re-enactment as a form of narration
I still want to do this! By the way, Claire, have you read any history by Jacob Abbott? We read Queen Elizabeth and loved it. I’ve read a few more and can’t get enough of them. Your history lovers might like them.
Fantastic job! I know your kids learned so much because I learned something just reading about it. 🙂
I love it! Where are the houses from? Are they paper cut outs?