Viking Houses Facts for Kids – 5 Fascinating Facts

Step into the world of Vikings and discover Learning Mole’s Viking Houses Facts for Kids! These fierce warriors and explorers lived in houses that were both practical and cozy. Let’s uncover 5 fascinating facts about Viking houses that will transport you back in time!

1. Longhouses: The Viking Homes

Vikings lived in incredible houses called Longhouses. These weren’t just any houses – they were like the mansions of their time!

Shape and Size:

• Longhouses were rectangular and looked like giant upside-down boats.
• They could be up to 75 metres long (that’s as long as 7 school buses lined up!)
• They were usually about 6 metres wide and 5-7 metres high in the middle.

Building Materials:

• Vikings used whatever they could find in nature to build their homes.
• Walls: Made from wooden planks or logs. Sometimes walls were curved to keep out strong winds.
• Roof: Thatched with straw, reeds, or turf (grass with roots and soil)
• Gaps: Filled with clay, mud, and even animal dung to keep out the cold!

Who Lived There:

• One longhouse could fit 30 to 50 people!
• This could be one big family with grandparents, parents, children, and cousins all under one roof.
• Sometimes, several smaller families shared a longhouse.

Fun Facts:

Building a longhouse was a team effort – the whole community would help.

2: Viking Home Comforts: Furniture and Decorations

Vikings might have been tough warriors, but they liked to be comfy at home too!

Seating and Sleeping:

• Long wooden benches lined the walls of the longhouse.
• These benches were seats during the day and beds at night.
• For extra comfort, they were covered with animal skins (like bear, deer, or sheep) and stuffed with straw.
• Pillows were filled with soft feathers from geese or ducks.

Storage and Tables:

• Vikings used wooden chests to store their clothes, weapons, and treasures.
• These chests could also be used as seats or small tables.
• Vikings didn’t have permanent dining tables like we do. They used wooden planks set up on trestles when it was time to eat. After the meal, these could be taken down to create more space.

Decorations:

• Wealthy Vikings decorated their homes with colourful tapestries showing scenes from Norse myths.
• Shields and weapons were often hung on the walls – both for storage and to show off!
• Some Vikings carved beautiful designs into their wooden furniture and door frames.

Fun Facts:

Vikings didn’t have chairs like we do today. They sat on benches or stools. The closer you sat to the chief of the household, the more important you were!

3. : The Central Fire: The Heart of the Home: The Central Fire

The fire was the true heart of a Viking home. It did so much more than just keep everyone warm!

Location and Purpose:

• A long fire pit ran down the center of the longhouse.
• It provided heat, light, and a place to cook food.
• The fire was kept burning all the time, even at night.
• Vikings sometimes used the hot stones from around the fire to heat water for bathing.

Smoke Management:

• Smoke from the fire escaped through a hole in the roof called a “smoke hole.”
• Sometimes, there were small openings in the walls to help let smoke out.

Cooking:

• Cooking pots hung from the ceiling over the fire.
• Food could be roasted on spits or boiled in cauldrons.
• Bread was baked in clay ovens near the fire.

Gathering Place: Where Viking Tales Come Alive

• The area around the fire was where families gathered to eat, tell stories, and work on crafts.
• Important guests were given seats closest to the fire – it was the Viking version of a VIP section!

Fun Facts:

The smoke from the fire helped preserve food hanging from the rafters. It also kept insects away and made the roof waterproof.

4. Viking Housemates: Animals Welcome!

Vikings had some unusual housemates – their animals! This might sound strange to us, but it was very practical for them.

Vikings believed that hearing animals breathe at night brought good luck.

Animal Accommodations:

• One end of the longhouse was set aside for animals.
• This area was usually separated from the human living space by a wooden partition.
• The animal area had a slightly lower floor, making it easier to clean.

Why Keep Animals Inside:

• It kept the animals safe from predators and thieves.
• Animals stayed warm and dry during harsh Scandinavian winters.
• Animal body heat helped warm the house – free central heating!
• It was easy to care for animals in bad weather.

Types of Animal Guests:

• Cows and oxen: Provided milk and were used for plowing fields
• Sheep and goats: Gave wool, milk, and meat
• Pigs: Raised for meat
• Chickens: Supplied eggs and meat
• Sometimes even horses were kept inside during very cold weather

Benefits and Challenges:

• Having animals close by meant fresh milk every morning.
• But it also meant dealing with animal smells and cleaning up after them!
• Vikings used straw on the floor to absorb animal waste, changing it regularly.

Fun Facts:

In Iceland, some Viking houses had special underground passages connecting the main house to the animal barn.

5. Letting the Light In: Windows and Illumination

Vikings had clever ways of lighting up their homes, even without big windows like we have today.

Natural Light Sources:

Most longhouses had few or no windows to keep heat inside. Light came from:

• The central fire
• Smoke holes in the roof
• The open main door

Some houses had small openings high in the walls, covered with thin animal intestines or fish skin to let in some light while keeping out the cold.

Artificial Lighting:

• Oil lamps: Made from stone or clay, filled with fish oil, seal oil, or whale blubber
• Rushlights: Made from rushes (a type of plant) dipped in animal fat
• Candles: Usually made from beeswax or tallow (animal fat), but these were expensive and used less often

Reflective Surfaces:

• Vikings sometimes hung polished metal shields on the walls to reflect light around the room.
• Water-filled vessels were occasionally used to amplify light.

Fun Facts:

Some Viking houses had “light pits” – holes in the floor filled with fish oil and a floating wick.

We hope you enjoyed learning about Vikings houses as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how amazing the Vikings are, you can learn more about them with our other fun articles: Vikings, Viking Warriors, Viking Routines, Viking Children and Viking Clothes. 

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