Working in teams, children create their Anglo-Saxon longhouse.
Longhouses were made from a wooden frame and thatched with straw. The walls were made of wattle and daub (mud and animal dung!) and the floor was made of compacted earth strewn with straw or rushes.
Materials needed:
- wooden craft sticks or twigs (for the frame)
- straw (for wattle and roof)
- mud (without the animal dung), air dry clay or plasticine (for the daub)
- card and paper (for figures)
- scissors
- glue
Research what a typical longhouse looked like inside. Include a sleeping area for humans, and a separate one for the animals, a central hearth and cauldron, benches and tables, rotary quern etc.
Leave one side of the longhouse open so you can see inside.
Create model animals and people to go inside/outside it.
Get each team to present their longhouse to the other groups, mentioning how they constructed it, and extolling its key features.
