MIDDLE AGES
GENERAL TOPICS
Compare the Romans, knights, Vikings, and gladiators in the Warrior Challenge, and then choose your own challenge to participate interactively!
Learn the story of St. George and the dragon by exploring artwork from the past.
BRITAIN (see more activities under yearly headings below)
Watch a movie and play a game to learn more about Anglo-Saxon coins, compliments of BBC.
Hidden Mysteries - Buckingham Palace is a computer game that lets you explore the palace while learning fun royal facts.
BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Take a 360° tour of the Hagia Sophia.
How much do you know about cathedral achitecture? Play this game and find out!
MEDIEVAL WARFARE & KNIGHTS
Explore the medieval arms race at this NOVA site.
Watch (via slideshow) a trebuchet as it is built. Then you can build your own, and interactively destroy a castle at this NOVA site!
This site is loaded with ideas for games, crafts, and group activities to create an entire event with a Knights theme. Start at the games page, and follow the links at the bottom of the page for more ideas!
Design your own coat of arms on your computer!
800-1000 VIKINGS
This Smithsonian Viking site is thorough, with plenty of video clips to watch, artifacts to see, and lots of audio.
Play Viking Quest and experience the challenge of "the full Viking experience."
Another great site, The Vikings, allows you to explore a village, longships, and runes, and includes a clickable map to see the breadth of their influence.
1066 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
Re-enact the Battle of Hastings with this BBC game.
Create your own Bayeux Tapestry online, or print out worksheets to put the events in order or evaluate William the Conqueror based on the Tapestry. Also find instructions for a Norman ship and a Norman helmet!
Although not interactive, this site on The Bayeux Tapestry is worth a visit! Includes the entire tapestry, section by section, with an explanation of each part.
1346-1350 THE BLACK PLAGUE
Click on the interactive map to see how the Black Plague spread between 1347 and 1350.
I don't often list a purely informational site here, but this is unique (& does have good pictures). Most don't know that Eyam, England is called the plague village because it voluntarily isolated itself when the plague struck, brought by fleas imported in a tailor's shipment of cloth. This real story seems to mirror the book A Parcel of Patterns. (actual date is 1666)