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Välkommen to Sweden!

FUN FACTS
  • Sweden is a country in Northern Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsula. It borders Finland to the northeast, the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia to the south and east and Norway to the west. 
  • Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. 
  • Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, meaning it has a king but the king doesn’t have any power. His name is Carl XVI Gustaf. 
  • Over 10 million people live in Sweden.
  • Minecraft was originally developed in Sweden by Markus Persson. 
  • Stockholm video game developer King created a simple puzzle video game called Candy Crush.
  • The official national animal of Sweden is the moose. 
  • Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump), is from Sweden. 
  • Nobel prizes, widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual achievement in the world, were established by Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel in 1895 and first awarded in 1905. 
  • Sweden’s Arctic north has been called the land of the midnight sun because during the summer the sun never sets!
LET’S TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF SWEDEN

Our virtual tour of Sweden was provided by Dan Nelson, president of the Swedish Club of Southeastern Michigan, an ethnic-oriented organization that centers around Swedish meals, activities, and events in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The club is the home location for Svenska Skollan, which keeps the Swedish language alive for the children of native born Swedes who are living in the area.

Let’s see a few of Dan’s favorite places.

Then take a closer look at Sweden’s largest city, the capital Stockholm. Make lots of stops and turn full circle. 

While you’re there, check out a museum that houses the Vasa, a seventeenth-century boat that sank in Stockholm waters on its maiden trip and sat on the seafloor for 333 years!

LOVE OF NATURE

Sweden is one of the largest countries in Europe in terms of area, but has a small population for its size, with about half of people living in rural areas filled with lakes and forests. Like Scotland, Sweden has a Right of Public Access, allemansrätt, that gives everyone the right to roam the countryside in peace and quiet as long as you’re respectful. You can even camp on someone’s property as long as you aren’t in view of their house, and you can forage. All kids learn to love nature and take care of it, too. 

Has there ever been a place you wanted to explore and couldn’t because it was private property? Even though we don’t have the same rights to public access, take advantage of the great parks around Ypsilanti and go exploring outside today. 

LEARN SOME SWEDISH

Learning a new language is always fun! Hearing how the letters sound is the key step to starting. Listen and learn by clicking the buttons below. 

YPSI WRITES

Animal Sounds In Swedish and Other Languages

Animal sounds all over the world are different for even the same animal. Birds in America say “tweet”, while birds in Sweden say “pip-pip”.

Watch people from different countries pronouncing different animal sounds!

Now, use our animal dialogue guide. You will find three different drawings that show what sounds cats, mice, and pigs make in different parts of the world. For the activity, translate a conversation between animals that speak Swedish and other languages!

AURORA BOREALIS (NORTHERN LIGHTS)

The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, are a natural event that happens in the sky. These beautiful, colorful dancing ribbons of light occur when gaseous particles in the earth’s atmosphere crash into  electrically charged particles from the sun. Different gases create different colors, which include green, pink, blue, purple, yellow and red. The magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres, known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south, are where the lights are typically seen.

Abisko, Swedish Laplands, within the Aurora circle, is possibly the best place to see the Northern Lights. They can be seen every year here during Fall & Spring.

Now use oil pastels, crayons, or chalk to make your own aurora borealis art

VIKING HISTORY

The Vikings lived between the 8th and 11th centuries in Scandinavia (the area now known as Denmark, Norway and Sweden). This was definitely not a time when planes, cars or trains existed, yet they were able to travel very far to other continents in their explorations. How did they do this? Watch this TedEd video to learn about the Viking longboats, “the secret to the Viking’s success.”

 

Learn how Vikings lived their daily lives and visit an ancient Viking village in Uppsala, Sweden. 

 

This rare Viking era “boat grave” was recently discovered in the Swedish village of Gamla Uppsala. Discoveries such as these tell us a lot about the lives and beliefs of the Vikings.

Make a Viking longboat from a milk or juice carton. 

SWEDISH FOOD

SWEDISH MEATBALLS köttbullar


A very popular dish in Sweden is meatballs! They are often served with a special gravy over mashed potatoes
with lingonberries on the side. Like any recipe, there are many different variations of how to make Swedish meatballs. In Sweden, the further south you are, the more likely you will use both pork and beef, and the further north you get, the recipe focuses on leaner cuts of meat, most times omitting pork all together. Enjoy this delicious authentic Swedish meatball recipe. 

INGREDIENTS

18 ounces (a bit over 1 lb.) ground (minced) beef/pork mixture
1¼ cup milk
¾ cup white breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 onion finely diced
salt, white pepper
ground allspice 

PREPARATION

Gently saute onion in a little butter without browning. Soak the breadcrumbs in milk. Blend the ground meat, preferably in a food processor, with the onion, egg, milk/breadcrumb mixture and the spices to the proper consistency and taste. Add a little water if the mixture feels too firm. Check the taste by test-frying one meatball. Then shape small meatballs with the aid of two spoons and place on water-rinsed plates. Brown a generous pat of butter in a frying pan, and when it ‘goes quiet’ place the meatballs in the pan and let them brown on all sides. Shake the frying pan often. Serve with potato purée or boiled potatoes and raw stirred lingonberries.

Wonder what other kids think about Swedish meatballs and lingonberries? Watch these kids tasting them!

FIKA

A uniquely Swedish food break is called fika. It’s kind of like a coffee break that happens around 11am-1pm, but it’s more than just taking a break to eat a snack. It’s about relaxing and using the time to connect with friends and family while enjoying cocoa, coffee, juice, and pastries.

Make fika part of your schedule this summer. Take time to have a real break where you sit and talk and eat a sweet.

Learn what school lunches are like in Sweden, too!

RETRO POP DANCE PARTY

Did you know that ABBA, a singing group from Sweden in the 1970’s and 1980’s, sold over 375 million records…making them one of the biggest bands for record sales of all time!

Tune in to their YouTube channel or download their Great Hits from Hoopla and have a DANCE PARTY, rocking out to some of ABBA’s greatest hits.  You can also listen to  Honey, Honey sung in Swedish or hear kids singing ABBA’s song Dancing Queen.

Need a prop for your Dance Party? Make a sparkly microphone using recycled materials!