Discovering Sweden with Kids Dala Horse Craft

We are pumped with the upcoming Olympics and what better way to learn about the participating countries by making a craft and reading about the country.  In today’s Discovering Sweden with Kids Series post we are sharing with you a fun, and simple way to make a Dala horse craft with kids. 

The Dala horse also known as a Dalecarlian horse is a traditional carved, painted wooden horse statuette.  The Dala horse originated as a wooden toy in the Swedish province Dalarna (Dalecarlia).

The Dala horse in bright red with white, green, yellow and blue details has become the symbol of this province as well as a symbol of Sweden. It is said that the image of the horses goes back thousands of years, and it is a symbol of strength and courage. 

For today’s post on discovering Sweden we used:

• The Summer Olympics Printables Packet from Multicultural Kid Blogs – This pack has a wealth of information on the participating countries. We learned all about Sweden, it’s wildlife, and the vikings. 
• Print-out of the Dala horse  
• Cardboard – I used the shoe box cardboard and traced the horse on it. 
• White glue – I traced the design of the horse on the cut-out cardboard
• Paint 
• Pom-poms – to decorate 
• Sweden – brochures, postcards, etc. I got these from a culture swap we did with a family from Sweden a few years ago. 

Official Name: Kingdom of Sweden
Form of Government: Constitutional monarchy
Capital: Stockholm
Area: 173,860 square miles (450,295 square kilometers)
Population:  9,045,389
Official Language: Swedish
Money: Swedish krona

Sweden is one of the least populated countries in Europe, with a population of only about 9 million people. Most people used to live in the countryside, but as the country became industrialized in the 1900s, many moved to the cities of Malmö, Göteborg, and Stockholm.

During the 1930s, Sweden developed the welfare system, known as “the Swedish model.” Under their system, all Swedes have access to publicly financed health care, help for the unemployed, child care, schools, elder care, and at least five weeks of paid vacation per year.

Welcome to our Olympics for Kids series! The Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about the world and explore cultures together. Today, you can find more about other crafts from various countries thanks to our participating bloggers:

Don’t forget that you can also download our Summer Games Unit activity pack to learn more about the world and have fun during the Olympics.