Stone Age Day Ideas

Plan a ‘Stone Age’ day with your children and take part in a wide range of activities to explore early human history! Of course, these ideas could also be used as part of your regular History lessons.

Don’t forget to explore our Early Human History resource pack too!

If you have any other ideas, please leave a comment below.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Write a leaflet – “How to survive in the Stone/Bronze/Iron Age”. You could use some information from the BBC’s Horrible Histories videos.
• Research theories about the reasons why Stonehenge was built and write an account of them.
• Write a letter describing a hill fort.
• Read a book set in the Stone, Bronze or Iron Age (e.g. Stone Age Boy, Ug and Boy). Books for Topics also have a great list!
• Write a diary entry from the point of view of someone living in the Stone, Bronze or Iron Age.
• Imagine that you are a hunter gatherer, following herds of animals. Write a description of a day in your life.
• Share the information on our Fact Cards and discuss the pictures in our Image Pack.

Maths

• Try this great nrich activity about stone age counting.

Science

• Look at pictures of Ice Age animals (e.g. mammoths) – how were they adapted for their habitats? What happened to them when the climate changed?
• Find out about fossils. What are they? How are they formed?

Computing

• Make a video report on life in the Stone, Bronze or Iron Ages. Use a green screen to put it an authentic-looking background!
• Play this Stone Age Survival game.
• Make an animation about life in the Stone Age. Look at this example from Peters Hill Primary:

Design Technology

• Build an iron age cart – what materials would have been available?
• Look at early human homes – how were they different from today? What do humans need to survive?
• Design an outfit for a human living in the stone/bronze/iron age. What materials would they have used?
• The wheel was invented during early human history. How would life be different if it hadn’t been invented?
• Look at some examples of objects from early human history. Look at “The Stone Age to the Iron Age” on this fantastic site from the British Museum. What were they for? How were they made?
• Try out some Stone Age recipes. Early Stone Age people were hunter-gatherers, so their meals would have mainly consisted of meat and things they could forage, like fruit. Later in the Stone Age, people began to farm, so they began to eat crops such as cereals and wheat.
• Make a model of Stonehenge.

Art

• Design your own cave art. Try taping paper to the underside of the tables and letting children draw while lying on their backs, as if they were working on the walls and ceiling of a cave. Pull down the blinds and turn the lights off to mimic painting in a dark cave.
• Try mixing up your own cave paint using oil and different types of mud, clay or ground-up charcoal.
• Learn about Stone Age art in this video:

Geography

• Research what happened in the Ice Age and the effect that had on humans in Britain when the land became cut off from the rest of Europe.

History

• Try flint knapping using a piece of soap instead of the flint and some simple cutting tools (clay tools or table knives).
• Bury some artefacts in a tray of sand and let the children have a go at being archaeologists. Provide a paper grid for them to record their finds.
• Get outside and build some simple shelters. What makes a good shelter?
• With adult supervision, build a campfire in a safe location. Try lighting it using flint stones.