Norse Mythology for Tweens

With the popularity of Rick Riordan’s books, I was sure that the new series Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard would be a HUGE hit, but I think I jumped the gun a little too quickly because most of the kids I know have had the chance to read it yet!  But, I’ve learned a lot about Norse mythology because of this program and I hope the kids learned a little bit too!
We started off the evening with talking about mythology and where “Norse” is geographically speaking.  I like to start a lot of my programs sharing information to see what level the kids are on.  Afterward our discussion, we created Norse runes on Shrinky Dink paper – why?  Because Shrinky Dinks are awesome and I thought the runes were a really cool concept that was incorporated into The Sword of summer.  A lot of the kids wrote their names or created runes with cool runes and decorated around them.  They love watching the Shrinky Dinks shrink in the toaster oven.

After Shrinky Dinks, I gave each of the kids a trivia page with 15 questions about Norse mythology.  Some of the questions were easier than others, but most of the kids had to do some research to answer the questions.  And for that, I pulled a bunch of books about Norse mythology for them to use.  It was interesting to see how adept the kids were at doing research and how many of them were truly interested in learning the answers.

It was a small group of kids that participated, but some of them were especially interested – others were merely there to hang out with friends, but either way, I learned a lot and we had a good time!  And if you’re looking for a place to get some basic information about Norse mythology – check out the Treasury of Norse mythology: Stories of Intrigue, Trickery, Love, and Revenge by Donna Jo Napoli and be prepared to be amazed, confused, and educated about a mythology that I didn’t know too much about.  Now, when is Rick Riordan going to a Chinese mythology series…