SchoolArts - February 2011

Left: Bri Dahlin, grade five. Below: Nathan Bulatovich, grade five.

of the Realm COINS

Each year my school picks a theme for the year. This past year the theme was Indiana Jones, so I decided I would fill my classroom with projects based upon ancient civilizations and archaeology. We spent time on ancient Rome and Greece, ancient Egypt, ancient China, the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Vikings. One project that was a big hit with my fourth and fifth graders was making Viking-style coins. Stacy Marion

A Viking Quest

Before starting on the project, we spent some time learning about the Vikings. Students played a quick game of Viking Quest online (see Web Links for URL). Viking Quest is an educational role-playing game in which students become Vikings and have to complete a mission. Through it, students are introduced to the Viking lifestyle, boat building, and Viking raids.

After the game, students were fired up about the Vikings! They had learned how important money was to the Vikings, and how many of their coins actually came from many different places. Looking at pictures of coins from Viking burials, we noticed there was almost no negative space and that their designs filled the whole coin.

Designing and Making Coins

I showed students how to use a safety compass (if you don’t have safety compasses, normal ones work just fine) and they sketched designs for their own coins. Some students took inspiration from the jewelry of the time, some used Viking rune characters, and others looked towards Viking folklore.

During the next class, students
redrew their final designs on 6 x 6"
( 15 x 15 cm) pieces of metal tooling
(we used the copper color) using safety
compasses and wooden styluses. We
discussed the idea of relief and hav-
ing whole areas either “pop out” or be
“pushed back.”
Students used
clay modeling
tools and wooden
styluses to com-
plete this step.

We finished the coins by “antiquing”

them. Students drew on their coins with permanent black marker, then took off some of the color using steel wool, revealing silver. The finished coins were carefully cut out using scissors. Finally, to complete the project, coins were mounted to a 7 x 7" ( 18 x 18 cm) piece of brown or black railroad board with loops of tape.

Materials

metal tooling, copper tone, •

38 gauge sketch paper • pencils • compasses • wooden stylus • clay modeling tools • black permanent markers • steel wool • tape • scissors • railroad board •

Some students took
inspiration from the jewelry
of the time, some used
Viking rune characters,
and others looked towards
Viking folklore.

project or telling me something they learned from it. Their Viking projects and writings showed how great their enthusiasm was for their artwork, and the coins were a hit with other students and my fellow teachers.