Stone Age Boy

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One day a little boy is walking along when he trips, stumbles and falls … into the Stone Age! He meets a girl his own age and her tribe, and learns all about their way of life. He watches them make tools, clothes and weapons. He sees how they hunt, fish, cook, celebrate – and even how they paint on the walls of caves. But when a furious cave bear attacks, he wakes up back in his own time where everyone tells him it was only a dream. But was it?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

Use the first two sentences of the book as the starting point for your own story. What happens when you trip and fall ‘down, down, down’?
Could you write a similar book in which a boy or girl travels to a different period in time?
Rewrite the story (or part of it) in the third person.
Use the information in the book to write a set of instructions, teaching people how to carry out one of the tasks that Stone Age people had to do (e.g. making fire, making tools).
Make a chart showing how similar / different life is today compared to life in stone age times.
Look at the illustrations of the boy and girl trying to communicate. Can you imagine some speech / thought bubbles (or captions) for the pictures.
If the boy and girl could speak the same language, what would they say to each other?
Find out what archaeologists do. Could you write a job description for an archaeologist? What skills would you need to have?
Can you write a set of instructions to teach people how to be an archaeologist?

Science

Look at the illustrations of the animals on the inside covers. Can you find out more about them? How many of them are still alive today?
Can you find out about other extinct species? When did they live? What caused their extinction? How are they similar / different to other species alive today?
Stone age people didn’t have plastic or metal. Can you make a list of modern objects that are made using plastic / metal? How would life be different without them?
Create a menu for a stone age meal.

Computing

Create a stop motion animation that retells part of the story… or is based on another story about stone age people.

Design Technology

Create some puppets of modern and stone age people. Can you use these to perform a play in which the characters explain and compare what their lives are like?
Can you make your own model of a stone age camp?
Find out about the shelters that were used by stone age people. What materials did they use? How were they constructed? Could you make your own model?
Could you try to make some of the tools that stone age people had to use?

Art

Look at the illustrations of the animals on the inside covers. Use these (and other images if you can find them) to create your own pictures.
Look at photos of cave paintings. Can you try to create your own? What materials could you use?

Music

At one point in the story, the stone age people have a celebration with music and dancing. Can you see the instruments that they are using? Can you find out about stone age instruments? How were they made? How were they played?
Could you compose your own stone age music?

Geography

Draw a plan view of the family’s camp. What are the different places / features there?

History

Use the information in the book to write a report about what life was like in Stone Age times.
Look at the timeline in the back of the book. Can you use this (and information from other sources) to create your own timeline?

Physical education

Stone age people used spears to catch animals. Could you have a javelin throwing competition and see who can throw the javelin the furthest… or closest to a target?

PSHE

Make a list of all of the jobs that stone age people had to do. Which jobs would you be good at doing? Why?