This book won us over with a rather neat combination of glorious design, simple text and 5 great little bird models to make, with additional scenery (neatly, the book's protective fly-cover pops off to become a dazzling backdrop). Meet the Sky Guys!

Here's a rather neat way of serving up a slice or two of art history in a hugely attractive way...

"This weekend, we're going to build a boat!" I said to a rather bemused Charlotte. We've been enjoying the British Museum Press's fantastic range of children's publications (See our review of "King Harald") but we couldn't wait to take a look at this fabulous papercraft model of a Viking Longship.



It's important to point out that the model is aimed at older children but enthusiastic 5 year olds can definitely help out, pushing out the pieces and helping you stick things together (you will need glue and scissors, and a very steady hand!)



Included is a fact sheet to give you more details on how Vikings built huge ships to explore the world, and established colonies in other countries as far reaching as North America and Greenland.

The kit soon began to come together quite nicely...



...though there were a few frustrating moments locating the deck inside the two halves of the hull with a ton of tiny little tabs to be glued (thankfully with a bit of deft pegging and temporary sticky tape, we overcame that obstacle fairly quickly).

As you can see from our header image, the finished model looks really brilliant. We'd heartily recommend lots of time and patience though in order to get the best results, so it's definitely more suitable for children from 8 upwards, with adult help for some of the fiddly bits.

It's a very impressive kit, and you can obtain it from the British Museum Press website or from the BM shop for £5.99.


Charlotte's best bit: Helping to stick the crew together, and then putting them in their proper places on deck.

Daddy's Favourite bit: A very impressive kit, a little over-fiddly in places but patience and a bit of careful sticking will reap rewards!

(Kindly sent to us for review by British Museum Press)