Childhood in the Viking Age (c. 750-1100) was largely undocumented as historical records primarily focus on adults, particularly men. Likewise, little is known about children's presence in the afterlife, as no runestones were raised in their memory. While a few objects interpreted as toys have been discovered, evidence of how children spent their time or what they did for amusement is scarce.
Children's Place in Society
In Old Norse society, the naming of the child represented integration into the community. The Norwegian Frostathing Law emphasised that every child must have a father. This notion extended to the naming and acceptance of the child. After birth, the baby was brought to the father, and the naming ritual was an important event, often involving the sprinkling of water, a practice tied to royal customs and likely pre-dating Christianity. If a father did not accept the child, it was considered "un-carried", a status with serious legal consequences. Children of unmarried women faced additional challenges, with the mother required to journey to the father to have the child accepted. The law also imposed responsibility on the father or his relatives to care for the child until age 16. However, only the first two illegitimate children of a man were to be supported by his relatives to avoid exploitation of the system. Thus, during the pagan period at least, a man's economic responsibility and the issue of identifying the father were paramount.
Child exposure was an accepted practice in the pagan world. Ari Thorgilsson's sober description of the voluntary acceptance of Christianity in Iceland in the year 1000 states that it became established by law that everybody should be Christian and undergo baptism, but concerning child exposure and the eating of horse meat, the old law should remain valid. By the time the Grey Goose Laws (Grágás) were written, likely in the 12th century, the practice would have been abolished, including for children with deformities.
In Norway, King Olaf's Christian Law, formulated in the early 11th century, also included legislation that sought to end pagan practices such as infanticide. However, the law was not universally applied, as some versions of the law had exceptions. The Gulathing Law, which incorporates parts of Olaf's Christian Law, gave some leeway regarding deformed infants. It explicitly allowed for the exposure of children born with serious physical deformities, such as reversed facial features or misplaced limbs (termed situs retroversus). The law specified that such children should be brought to a church, converted from paganism, and left to die. This does not mean, however, that exposure was widely practiced.
Archaeological findings also suggest that children were sometimes sacrificed in pre-Christian Norse rituals. Excavations at Trelleborg uncovered sacrificial wells containing the remains of children, placed alongside animal bones and ritual objects. These sacrifices were likely meant to appease the gods and ensure prosperity. Other sites, such as Lake Tissø, have also yielded remains of children found in ritual contexts, supporting the notion that sacrificial practices were part of at least some Norse religious traditions. Children's graves from the Viking Age often contain small bronze rattles, bells, and occasionally jewellery. However, the number of identifiable child graves is surprisingly low, leading scholars to speculate that children may have been buried separately or in ways that are less detectable today, or because of infanticide.
Children as Small Adults
Children were expected to contribute to their households from a very early age. They were seen as miniature adults and were given tasks that prepared them for their future roles in the household. In rural and farming communities, children helped with agricultural labour, tending livestock, and domestic chores. Boys learnt skills necessary for hunting, farming, and Viking warfare, while girls were trained in textile work, food preparation, and household management. The goal was not simply to keep them busy but also to integrate them as functional members of society as soon as possible. Life expectancy was, after all, not that impressive. This practical approach to childhood is illustrated in the 14th-century Bolla þáttur (The story of Bolli), where a young boy, Olaf Thordarson, is said to have built a miniature farmhouse when he was just seven or eight years old. This suggests that children imitated adult responsibilities in their play, using it as a form of training rather than pure recreation.
Children were not only expected to work but also to uphold family honour, which could include taking part in violent conflicts. As revenge was a central concept in Viking society, children would get involved in blood feuds at shockingly young ages. In Gísla saga, Helgi (12) and Bergr (11) avenge their father's death, showing that the expectation to take up arms could begin long before full adulthood. Even play could turn violent. In Egils saga, a precocious seven-year-old Egill Skallagrímsson participates in a local gathering (leikir), where boys engage in mock combat similar to adult games. He is paired against an older, stronger boy and loses. Furious at the defeat, Egill first strikes his opponent with a stick and, when further humiliated, seeks out an older friend who hands him an axe. Without hesitation, Egill kills the boy. This extreme reaction would lead to a full-fledged fight among the adults, resulting in the deaths of seven men. The story exemplifies how childhood quarrels could escalate into serious conflicts and how, from a young age, children were expected to react decisively and violently to personal slights.
Education & Expectation
Education was rather a matter of informal practices, such as fostering, a widespread and legally regulated practice in Norse culture. It was not only a means of child-rearing but also a political and economic strategy. When a child was fostered, it strengthened ties between two families, often reinforcing alliances. Typically, a family of lower social status would foster the child of a more prominent family, benefiting from the association while ensuring the child received proper training in leadership, law, or martial skills. For example, in Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, Gunnlaug was fostered by Thorstein to study law, demonstrating that fosterage was often used as a form of education.
Fostering relationships were sometimes as emotionally strong as biological ones. In some cases, children even saw their foster parents as closer than their birth parents, and foster-sibling bonds could be deeply significant. While men were the primary legal guardians of children, women – particularly foster mothers – also played a significant role in raising and shaping them. In some cases, foster mothers could exert great influence over their foster children. The importance of these maternal figures is reflected in sagas where women guide and advise their foster sons, sometimes helping them navigate political rivalries or conflicts.
Unlike in a medieval monastery, where formal schooling was emphasised, Old Norse education was primarily practical and oral. Boys and girls learned skills relevant to their roles through observation and hands-on experience. Sons of chieftains or warriors were trained in combat, legal matters, and leadership, while daughters of prominent families learned how to manage estates and oversee large households. However, although literacy was rare, some education did involve learning runes. Poetry and storytelling played a crucial role in preserving knowledge. Children who showed poetic talent could gain significant prestige, as composing verse was highly valued. For example, Egill Skallagrímsson, at the age of three, was already composing poems, and his grandfather rewarded him with food for his efforts. This suggests that intellectual ability, especially in poetry and rhetoric, was recognised and encouraged from an early age, even if the story is, of course, embellished to make him look larger than life.
While children were expected to work and prepare for adult responsibilities, they also engaged in play. However, even their games reflected the expectations of their society. Physical games often resembled combat training, such as wrestling, mock battles, and sports involving strength and endurance. These were not purely for entertainment but were seen as exercises to develop fighting skills. One childhood game would have involved building small turf houses, mirroring adult dwellings. This was seen as a way for children to familiarise themselves with domestic and architectural skills. It also served as a form of role-playing that reinforced social structures. The sagas actually tend to condemn deviant behaviour, with some children criticised for being too unruly or disruptive. Again in Egils saga, Egill's father initially refused to bring him to a feast because he believed the boy was incapable of behaving properly in a formal setting. Even with children, there were still expectations of decorum, especially in public and social gatherings.
Toys in the Viking Age
Artefacts believed to be toys have been found at settlement sites and in children's graves, such as those in Birka (Sweden) and Lindholm Høje (Denmark), as well as in locations like the Shetland Islands and Dublin. These findings indicate that Viking children, like those today, played with toys. Excavations have revealed wooden items such as miniature ships, swords, dolls, and animal figures. Some objects likely had both recreational and educational purposes; for example, a spinning top could help a child develop the hand movements necessary for textile production, while miniature weapons might have been used for training before transitioning to full-sized iron arms in adulthood.
Toys from the Viking Age, found in both burial and settlement contexts, were crafted from materials such as wood, bark, bone, and occasionally metal. References to children's toys in Old Norse literature are rare. One exception appears in Viga-Glúms saga, where a child gives another a small bronze horse (messingahestr) as a toy. A similar bronze horse was reportedly found at Þingvellir (the assembly site) in Iceland, though it has since been lost. Miniature animal figures, sometimes discovered in Viking Age sites, may have had ritualistic purposes or functioned as weights, but it is also possible that some were used as playthings.
Wooden horses appear to have been the most common Viking Age toys, although it is conceivable that children repurposed zoomorphic or anthropomorphic objects originally intended for other uses. Examples of wooden horses have been unearthed in Dublin, Trondheim, Staraya Ladoga, and the Faroe Islands. Similar small horses, made of both wood and bronze, have been found in West Slavic Late Iron Age contexts, where they likely served multiple functions. Interestingly, archaeologists in Iceland have recently uncovered a rare Viking Age artefact: a small stone figurine that may have once served as a child's toy. However, its identity remains a mystery, as experts cannot agree on whether it represents a bear, a pig, a dog, or another creature entirely. Upon careful consideration, the best contender seems to be a wild boar.
Board games were also an important aspect of leisure, with game pieces frequently found in Viking graves. Some game boards resemble modern ones like Fox and Geese, and rune stones depict men playing similar games, indicating their popularity.
Small wooden boats, interpreted as toys, have also been recovered from sites like Dublin and Trondheim. The Dublin example is adorned with diagonal incisions, possibly depicting serpents, while the Trondheim boat, dated to 1100–1125, resembles the Viking Age merchant ships known as knörr. These boats were likely toys, though some may have served as scale models for shipbuilding. The archaeological evidence also includes miniature and wooden versions of weapons and tools. Excavations in Dublin, Novgorod, and Staraya Ladoga have yielded numerous examples. While often interpreted as toys, such objects may have also functioned as training tools or even repurposed household items.
Beyond purpose-built toys, children likely played with simple objects such as pebbles, beads, and wooden scraps, and children may have molded objects from clay, too. Additionally, animal bones might have been repurposed as toys. Archaeological evidence also reveals miniature versions of household items crafted for children, often reflecting everyday objects used in Viking homes. A finely crafted small stone lamp found in Fetlar, Shetland Islands, mirrors full-sized Viking household lamps and could function just as effectively. Similarly, 15 miniature quern- and millstones discovered in Shetland and Trondheim may have been used to teach children agricultural skills. Play likely provided both entertainment and valuable training for adult responsibilities.
Coming of Age
In Old Norse culture, there was no clearly defined coming-of-age ceremony, but the transition from childhood to adulthood was marked by various milestones. Typically, by the age of 16, boys were considered adults and were expected to participate fully in society. This could include managing land, engaging in trade, or going on Viking expeditions. Girls, on the other hand, were considered marriageable by their early teens and were expected to take on adult responsibilities in managing a household.
For boys, one of the key markers of adulthood was receiving their first weapons. Wealthy mothers often played a role in this transition, outfitting their sons with armour, swords, and even Viking ships if they were of high status. This is reflected in Egils saga, where Egill's mother promises to acquire a ship for him once he is of age. For girls, marriage was often the defining moment of transition. Once married, women in the Viking Age were expected to run their own households, manage finances, and bear children. The psychological impact of this transition could be intense, as daughters were often sent to live with families they had never met before, sometimes even with former enemies.
