The Ultimate Guide to Resources and Activities for Story of the World Vol.1

The basis for the curriculum that we use is Story of the World. As we read each chapter, I want to expand on some topics and add more in that I think are important. I’m also the type of person who, when I am motivated to plan, I will plan and plan and search for ideas and make plans, until I’m bored with it and can’t stand it anymore.

So my goal here is to put together a huge list of all the possible activities that we could do each week, then when it comes, I can glance at the post and see what feels like something we should do that day. I’m including videos and internet games and all sorts of things, so Lil’Miss can even do some things on her own. I’ll add more to the list as I find things, and if you have or know of something you think should go here, email me and I’ll add it. I hope you’ll enjoy!

When I first started compiling this page, my thought was that I would find a bunch of activities to be able to choose from when we got to each chapter. As I got about 3 days into the compiling, though, I realized that you could literally study every chapter of Story of the World, in depth and age appropriately, without ever reading the book. So far, I haven’t even touched on one tenth… one one hundreth of the information that is out there on the interwebs. Each link that I found led to at least 10 more- which is why it’s taken me so long to gather this info.

So what I’m going to do here is for each chapter, I will put a section called “FURTHER READING”. This section will be readings that I’ve found on the subject or time period or subject that don’t necessarily correlate to a specific activity. Maybe you could come up with an activity and tell me about it. In the meantime, I will assume (since we’re notebookers) that the default activity for any reading that doesn’t have one, is to dictate and notebook the information that was gleaned. Some of these FURTHER READING pages are amazing, so make sure you check them out.

Before the FURTHER READING section, I will try to assign a subject to each activity. They don’t always fit in a single subject, but if you’re looking to cover certain ones, this way you can easily find what you’re looking for. In any case, for many of the chapters, there are so many activities that you could devote a lot more time than the one week that is typically allotted to studying it. If my kiddo is interested and wants to know more, we’ll extend those chapters as long as we can and learn even more.

Ok, anything else? Well, if you know of something that will fit on this list, just email me at chrissy @ museofthemorning DOT com and I’ll add it. I’ll also add links to our activities when/if I show them off.

Ok, here we go!!

Using the “official” Story of the World Materials

Of course if you want to use Story of the World, you’ll need the Story of the World book. But I’m going to tell you a secret- there is soooo much information online, you could totally study pretty much all of history without the book. I like to use it as a guide though. I read the stories and then we do activities having to do with the specific activities. We also we extend the learning by reading about things that happened at the time or other important people from the time period. And then we do activities about that.

There is an activity book too. It has a lot of activity sheets and color sheets, plus a lot of other activities that you can do. You can also purchase a PDF of just the student pages from the activity book. This is what I bought. I like it, but be warned: it’s just the student pages, it doesn’t include the activities.

Then there is the Test book and answer key. I didn’t get this because I’m not really big on testing.

Lastly, there is a CD of Story of the World. These are great if you don’t enjoy reading out loud all the time or if the kiddos want to listen to the reading more than once. I borrowed this from the library.

Resources For Multiple Chapters

GENERAL: Homemaking With Heart has a great page on why to use SOTW. Toward the bottom, there is an awesome schedule of how they use SOTW. It’s similar to how we do it.

PRINTABLES: Dynamic 2 Moms has this great page with lots of printables for ancient civilizations

ONLINE VIDEOS: Crash Course has videos on world history topics and follows a really similar timeline to SOTW.

TIMELINE: Timeline printables along with timeline cards for vol 1

GENERAL: Hannah’s Homeschool Helps – a yahoo group with tons and tons of SOTW printables

TIMELINE: Printable notebook timeline with timeline figures and more.

PRINTABLES: Lots of notebooking pages and minibooks for all sorts of subjects

BOOKS: The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (With Internet Links)

Introduction: How Do We Know What Happened?

SORTING: explore how different items have changed over time with these printable cards showing a telephone, cars and people

WRITING: Make a family timeline

WRITING: Make a personal pull out timeline.

POETRY: Here are a bunch of poems about the continents

ART: Read a selection from Motel of the Mysteries (the best pages to read IMO are 22-33 and then starting on page 52, it goes through the treasures that were found). Have your child draw a common everyday object and come up with an incorrect interpretation of it. Alternative- offer a selection of photos of everyday items to choose from. Think- stapler, tape dispenser, drinking glass, ruler, blinds, silverware, etc… If they think a television is a way to communicate with the gods, then what would they think of a computer?

LAPBOOKS: Geography lapbooks and printables

LAPBOOK: Read If the World Were a Village and complete the accompanying lapbook.

MINI BOOK: Download this PDF about archeology.

SOCIAL STUDIES: once you’ve found your artifacts, put a pot back together to explore how archaeologists do it!

LOOK: Do a google image search for “archaeology dig” or “archaeology excavation” to see examples of digs. Of course if there was a dig near you, go see it if you can.

SCIENCE: Do an archaeology dig to find artifacts.

SCIENCE: Are you in an area where you can go look for arrowheads? The best time is in the spring near the rivers after the winter flooding has receded. Also, newly plowed fields can be good places to look if you know some have been found there before.

MAPWORK: Peel an orange or a tangerine to show how maps aren’t true depictions of the globe

MAPWORK: This is a pretty cool map maker

MAPWORK: Use Google to locate as many current archaeological digs as you can and mark them on a world map.

LESSON PLAN: Layer Cake Archaeology (grades k-2)

LESSON PLAN: What Will Survive? – PDF Download (grades 6-10)

LESSON PLAN: Trash Talks – PDF Download (grade 5-12)

VIDEOS: What is Archaeology?

COMPUTER GAME: Play Dig It Up where you may dig up an ancient Roman town

Chapter 1: The Earliest People (7000 BCE)

READ: learn more about Hunting and Gathering

READ: learn about the first farmers

READ: Learn more about the first villages

LANGUAGE ARTS: Here’s a word search using vocabulary related to The Earliest People

LAPBOOK: Learn about animal tracks that the early nomads would have followed with this lapbook.

MINI BOOK: Download this PDF lapbook on Stone Age Peoples

UNIT: Early Humans Unit for 7th Grade

NATURE STUDY / ART: Venture into a deep dark cave and make art by firelight, just like cavemen would have.

SCIENCE: Locate a cave and go spelunking!

SCIENCE: Take a nature walk to observe and gather a large river rock, berries, twigs, leaves, flower petals and maybe even some mud for a cave painting later in the week. Observe nature by pretending to be a nomad. How could you use the natural items you find on your walk? Where would you make your camp?

GEOGRAPHY: Understanding Geography’s Effect on Settlement in the Three Regions (7th grade)

ART: Take this virtual tour of a cave in France, with cave paintings. Click explore to look closer, then click back to tour to continue. What do you see? Who do you think made those paintings? With what materials? More articles with photos – Pictures of Cave Paintings in France, cave painting of hands, located in Argentina, Cave painting of a hunt, cave painting of an ox. Here is another lesson on cave art.

ART: Paint like a cave man on a brown sheet of paper and distress the paper to replicate a cave wall

ART: Here’s another fun way to display what you’re learning about cave art.

ART: Locate a large river rock. Make a “cave painting” on your rock with the berries and mud and nature things you found earlier this week. Think about what the ancient peoples would have seen around them and depict that on your rock. If you like, get out tempera paints and paintbrushes to paint more rocks.

ART: Make BIG cave art! Use large sheets of brown paper or open up a grocery bag and crumple it up to make the designs on.

NETFLIX INSTANT VIDEOS: Walking with Beasts, Walking with Cavemen, Quest for Fire

INTERACTIVE: Learn about stone age tools

FURTHER READING:
read about the invention of the wheel. design your own wheeled cart?

Chapter 2: Egyptians Lived on the Nile River (3000bce)

MAPWORK: Africa Outline Map, Egypt outline map, and a world map

MAPWORK: Here’s a map of Ancient Egypt with space for writing in names of cities, rivers, etc…

MAPWORK: Mapping the Physiographic Features of Egypt and the Near East (7th grade)

SCIENCE: Make a Nile River model with dirt, rocks, grass and more in a big pan. Flood it often.

COOKING: Bake Egyptian Flatbread (scroll down for recipe)

LANGUAGE ARTS: Here is a word search using vocabulary related to the Egyptians living on the Nile.

LANGUAGE ARTS: Complete some fun Egyptian themed mad libs

LANGUAGE ARTS: Ancient Egypt Children’s Book Project (7th grade)

ART: Learn more about ancient Egyptian art with this lesson plan

MAKE: create a diorama and reed boats of the Nile River

MAKE: Download this PDF figure of King Narmer to put together.

INTERACTIVE: Read this myth about the beginning of the world

VIDEOS: The First Pharoahs and others

GAME: print out and play this Ancient Egyptian game Mehen or the Snake Game

MATH: Ancient Egypt Udjat Melty Bead Design, now make your own design based on Ancient Egypt motifs

MORE BOOKS: The Nile River, Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile

READ: Read about some of the various Egyptian gods, then put together this egyptiangods“>mini book about some of the gods and goddesses.

LAPBOOK: Ancient Egypt Lapbook – this covers all of Ancient Egypt- you might want to print it out and use each piece as you get to the appropriate chapter.

LESSON PLAN: The Nile River Project (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Read about Ancient Egyptian gods
Ancient Egypt section on Kidipede

Chapter 3: The First Writing (3200bce)

SOCIAL STUDIES (& MATH?): Read about Cuneiform and see some examples of tablets. Cut a slab of terra cotta clay and use a stick? to write on it. Use a cunieform alphabet or whatever you would like. Maybe do some math using Cuneiform numerals. (Cuneiform letter chart is also in the SOTW activity book pg 10)

VIDEO: Papyrus and What life was like in Ancient Egypt

VIDEOS: Written Word and others

INTERACTIVE: See some examples of ancient Papyrus

INTERACTIVE: Read more about Heiroglyphics and then Explore heiroglyphics with this online typewriter. Print out your name.

INTERACTIVE: Translate these Hieroglyphics to see what the story says.

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about the Rosetta Stone.

ART: Create Egyptian Cartouches with potato stamps! Here’s a Heiroglyphics table.

MAKE: Create your own papyrus.

READ: Read about the Rosetta Stone. Here’s a little more in depth. Why is it important? Place a date on your timeline for when it was created and for when it was discovered. You can do mapwork showing where it was discovered.

WRITING: Here’s another reading about the Rosetta Stone with examples of what each of the scripts on it look like. Use this lesson plan to create your own Rosetta stone. If you’re tired of using clay, you could just draw it all on neutral colored paper.

FURTHER READING:
read more about Cuneiform
explore the life of a scribe Read about the story of writing

Chapter 4: The Old Kingdom of Egypt (until 2100bce)

MORE BOOKS: Hieroglyphs, The Day of Ahmed’s Secret, The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle: Solving a Mystery of Ancient Egypt, Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House, No. 3), Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Mummies Made in Egypt (Reading Rainbow Books), Eyewitness Books-Mummy, 100 Things You Should Know About Mummies

MATH: Build a pyramid. Maybe from sugar cubes, legos? We have this kit that I found at a thrift store and have been hoarding until this chapter.

MAPWORK / COOKING: Make a cookie map of Egypt.

MATH: print out and put together this scale model of the pyramid at Giza and then use the info on this page to compare the actual heights of things to see how big it is!

MATH: Build some pyramids with this printable – here’s an origami pyramid to make

UNIT STUDY: Check out this great unit study on Ancient Egypt

LAPBOOK: Here’s a lapbook that folds up into a pyramid!

NETFLIX INSTANT: Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife, Egypt: Engineering an Empire, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs: IMAX

VIDEO: Learn how the pyramids may have been made with this video.

VIDEO: listen to this song about making mummies from a Horrible Histories episode

VIDEOS: Ancient Egypt and others

INTERACTIVE: Play Mummy Maker and learn about how mummies were made as you assist the Chief Embalmer

INTERACTIVE: I read it in the book of the dead – website to learn more and to make a mummy

INTERACTIVE: Explore an Egyptian Tomb with this activity

INTERACTIVE: Egypt’s Astounding Mummies and How the Egyptians made Mummies

INTERACTIVE: See how natural forces and artificial techniques that have created mummies around the world

WRITING: Read the book Boy Of The Pyramids and then use these matching notebooking pages.

SCIENCE: Mummify a Chicken or Make an apple doll head (just steps 1-3), then mummify it!. OR Mummify a Hotdog!

SCIENCE: For older kids, do an apple mummification experiment- Make an apple doll head (just steps 1-3) with 4 apples mummify one apple put one in dirt, put one in sand and leave one out in the air. Check on it each week or every other day and report what it looks like, how much does it weigh, replace the salt, sand or whatever was around it and keep going

MAKE: Paint wooden or cardboard boxes to create sarcophagi.

MAKE: make life-size sarcophagi by tracing your body on some butcher paper!

MAKE: Create some canopic jars

ART: Read about paintings done inside the pyramids. Using graph paper, draw an Egyptian scene. Reproduce the drawing on a large sheet of posterboard. Here’s more on ancient Egyptian paintings.

ART: Read about carvings done in a similar style to the paintings your read about earlier. Create a carving on a styrofoam meat tray (print it?) Go to the library and make rubbings of the pretty furniture outside the kid’s section. If your tablet is dry, make rubbings from it.

MAPWORK & WRITING: To show kids that life was happening and advancing around the world, learn a little about Stonehenge. Include it on your timeline. stonehenge“>Download these Notebooking and Mapwork pages (PDF Download) from Teach.Learn.Imagine. to do.

VIDEO: Learn about Stonehenge

MAKE: Make a lego Stonehenge

FURTHER READING:
Spend some time reading about the pyramids and temples
Learn more about pyramids and sculptures.
Read about cat mummies. Why would the Ancient Egyptians mummify animals? (This reading is a little gruesome)
Here’s some more about Stonehenge and a nearby ancient village
Lots of info about how mummies were made

Chapter 5: The First Sumerian Dictator (2334bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

VIDEO: The Legend of Sargon

INTERACTIVE: Play The Royal Game of UR online.

DRAMA: “Recreate the story of King Sargon, the first Sumerian dictator with a painted roll of butcher paper, a basket and some dolls.

OTHER BOOKS: You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Sumerian Slave!, Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

SCIENCE: Explore the Royal Tombs of Ur

SOCIAL STUDIES: Read about the Royal Game of UR.

MAKE: create your own game board from foamcore or cardboard. use clay for the dice. play the game!

Chapter 6 The Jewish People

Chapter 7: Hammurabi and the Babylonians (1792bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

MAPWORK: Play a little game and learn about the capitals of the Middle East

WRITING: Make Your Own Family Law Stele, like the Code of Hammurabi, using butcher paper and markers. OR write with metallic markers on black foam core.

VIDEOS: Hammurabi’s Code of Laws

INTERACTIVE: Build a Ziggurat

OTHER BOOKS: The Life & Times of Hammurabi, Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Hammurabi

LESSON PLAN: Here is a lesson plan for 7th grade with a video, reading and questions

FURTHER READING:
Learn about Mesopotamian art
Read about the astronomers of Babylon
Read more about Hammurabi’s code

Chapter 8: The Assyrians (3000-1200bce)

ART: Learn about the Bird Headed Deity with these lesson plans – Combining Human and Animal Forms, Deities & Superheroes, How to Decorate a Palace, So, What are you Trying to Say?, Tales of Superheroes, What We Value

READ & LISTEN: The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the oldest known poem. Here is a written translation to read. Here is another version you can listen to and/or read

LITERATURE STUDIES: Possibly for older kids. The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is an epic poem. Here is a lesson plan about epic poetry.

LITERATURE STUDIES: Read about the epic hero cycle. What are some other epic stories? Modern and older. Read and/or watch some: Princess Bride, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Epic of Giglamesh, The Odyessy, The Iliad, Wizard of Oz. Here’s a PDF worksheet about the epic hero cycle. How does the Shipwrecked Sailor fit? What about the other epic stories you’ve read?

VIDEO: Learn about the characters in the monomyth, or the Hero’s Journey in this video with puppets!

VIDEO: Watch this video of Captain Picard relating the Epic of Gilgamesh

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map. VIDEOS: The Epic of Gilgamesh

NETFLIX STREAMING: Ancient Mesopotamia

VIDEO: Here’s a version told to music

WRITING: Write your own fairy tales.

WRITING: Write a different ending to the Epic of Gilgamesh.

WRITING: The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem- do you remember epic poems from The Shipwrecked Sailor? How do these two epics compare? Write your own epic poem or story.

Chapter 9: The First Cities of India (2000-1750bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

ART: Read about Rangoli Designs from India create a rangoli with colored sand- on paper with glue for a permanent one or on a plate or tabletop.

ART: indus valley art and carve seals in a chunk of balsa wood or in a piece of styrofoam.

MAKE: Read about toys and games. Use terra cotta clay to make toys like described in the text?

MAKE: Make the lost city of Mohenjo-Daro with clay bricks (from terra cotta clay) look at pictures read about it here

GAME: play Parcheesi, which is very similar to the game Pacheesi, an ancient game in India

VIDEO: Indus Valley History

INTERACTIVE: Play an archeology game to discover more about Mohenjo-daro

INTERACTIVE: play an Indus Valley trading game

WRITING: Write a newspaper about the Indus Valley

LESSON PLAN: Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjo-Daro (7th grade)

FURTHER READING: Read about Indian daily life and home life

Chapter 10: The Far East: Ancient China (2690/ 1766-1122bce)

READING / SOCIAL STUDIES: Read the book Tikki Tikki Tembo. Watch it as a shadow puppet show

VIDEOS: How Silk Is Made and another

LAPBOOK: Ancient China Lapbook

ART: Make a Ming bowl from Crayola Model Magic. Or try these fancy ones from real plates

MAKE: Make Chinese Fortune Sticks

MAKE: Make a Chinese lanterns

Chapter 11: Ancient Africa (3500bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

LISTEN: Listen to Anansi Tries To Steal All The Wisdom of the World

VIDEO: Anansi & The Pot of Beans

COOKING: Make Fried Plaintains

ART: check out this unit on African Art with lesson plans and more.

ART: Read about African art and about African masks. Look at some African Masks. Here are more. Create your own African Mask

LAPBOOKS: Lots of lapbooks on African books, animals and African countries

LAPBOOKS: More lapbooks having to do with the desert

Chapter 12: The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1720bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

GAME: Learn about the game Senet. Make your own gameboard and sticks and play! You can also play online at this link.

INTERACTIVE: Take a tour of Ancient Egypt with 360 degree views!

INTERACTIVE: Read more about Ancient Egypt

INTERACTIVE: tour a tomb with this game called Tomb of the Unknown Mummy

INTERACTIVE: just for fun, drag the people and animals around the pyramids in this online game

VIDEO: Nova builds a Pharoh’s chariot

VIDEO: A look at Ancient Egyptian weapons and how they fought from their chariots. Ancient Egyptian Armor

VIDEO: The Middle Kingdom

MORE BOOKS: Egypt: in Spectacular Cross-Section, Adventures in Ancient Egypt

ART: Paper Pharoah’s Mask Here’s another idea to take it to another level: Papier mache mask

ART: Create Egyptian style jewelry by making rolled paper beads and stringing them.

ART: Design a Sarcophagus

ART: Read about the Sphinx and then sculpt your own sphinx. Why would the sphinx be covered with sand?

MAKE: Create “gold” bracelets from toilet paper rolls and gold paint.

LAPBOOK: Make a lapbook about ancient Egypt

LESSON PLAN: Creating Illustrated Journals About Ancient Egyptian Daily Life for 7th grade

READ & COPYWORK: Read about the Egyptian Book of the Dead and then do some copying from some of the works in it

RESOURCES:
Notebooking pages – various styles and images about Ancient Egypt
word searches and crosswords about Ancient Egypt

Chapter 13: The New Kingdom of Egypt (1524-1325bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

MAPWORK: Download and complete this layered map of the various kingdoms of Egypt.

MORE BOOKS: Who Was King Tut?

INTERACTIVE: Read about King Tut, and look at the treasures found in his tomb

INTERACTIVE: Learn about the Ancient Punt ship and Pharoah Hatshepsut’s fabled trip to Punt

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about Egypt with this cool site. – includes a word search, jigsaw, timeline and more!

INTERACTIVE: Hatshepsut’s Revenge – Play this choose your own adventure story about a Mystery in king Tut’s palace

INTERACTIVE: Learn more and see photos of King Tut’s tomb

VIDEO: King Tut Exhibit Video

VIDEO: A Priviledged Life and more

COPYWORK: This is a copywork pack of quotes from Ankenaten – it costs $1, but was so inexpensive, I thought it was worth it to include.

MAKE: Read a little about Nefertiti and make her headwear.

ART: Read about Ancient Egyptian Sculptures. Using a clay or dough of your choice, create a sculpture in the manner of the Ancient Egyptians. Sculpt a small Egyptian mask based off of King Tut’s Mask

ART: Read about Amarna Art and how Amenhotep wanted depictions of himself to be more personal.

ART: Draw King Tut

MATH: Read about the homes of Ancient Egyptians – design a home that you might have lived in if you’d lived back then or make bricks from terra cotta clay and build a house.

LESSON PLAN: Sounds of the Past: Identifying Instruments in Modern Egyptian Music (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Learn about how the Egyptians stopped using pyramids.
Read about the role of women in Ancient Egypt
Read about daily life in Ancient Egypt

Chapter 14: The Israelites Leave Egypt

Chapter 15: The Phoenicians (1200-700bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

CRAFT / DRAMA: Create a Phoenician styled ship and play a trading game

VIDEO: Phoenician Trading and others

MAKE: Dye some pasta with purple and make a necklace.

MAKE: Dye some yarn with purple dye (use grape juice or blueberries) and fingerknit with it.

UNIT: The Phoenicians and the Beginnings of the Alphabet. Here is an interactive Phoenician alphabet.

WRITING: Use this Phoenician alphabet to write your name. Remember that Phoenicians wrote from right to left! And they didn’t use vowels.

WRITING: The Phoenician alphabet did not include vowels. Write a letter without using vowels. Can the recipient understand what you wrote?

MATH: Use this number chart and do some math!

Chapter 16: The Return of Assyria (1300-627bce)

VIDEOS: Babylon & Assyria and more

MATH: Build an Assyrian siege machine from legos

ART: Look at this example Assyrian art. Design your own creature that incorporates various animal and human features.

FURTHER READING:
Read more about the Assyrians

Chapter 17: Babylon Takes Over Again! (605-561bce)

VIDEO: Babylon’s Hanging Gardens

ART: Here are ideas about what the “Hanging Gardens” may have looked like. Draw what you think it would have looked like.

SCIENCE: Build a small terraced garden- maybe with herbs….

Chapter 18: Life in Early Crete (2200-1450bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

SCIENCE: Make an easy volcano to show how Thera’s volcano impacted ancient Crete
LAPBOOK: Lapbook on Volcanos

VIDEO: Atlantis, Cyprus and more

DO: Read about Theseus and the Minotaur, now do some mazes- here is a very simple one to do online, here is a harder one to do online, this one is a harder maze race to play online. print out some mazes from this site and do them. another reading about Daedalus and the Labyrinth

ART: Create frescos – these were done in a plastic lid- is it plausible to make them bigger? On a wall? Outside, maybe on the fence? We’ll need some plaster. Here is a fresco gallery to look at first.

MOVIES: Labyrinth, Ulysses

LESSON PLAN: Crete and Mycenae: Identifying the Roots of Greek Civilization (7th grade)

Chapter 19: The Early Greeks (1200-700bce)

VIDEO / MAKE: Watch a video about the Mycenaeans and then make a mask of Agamemnon

VIDEO: Watch a video about Troy and the Trojan War

VIDEO: Early Greeks and more

ART: Learn how to draw a Trojan horse.

ART: Learn about Greek art with this complete lesson plan

ART: Read about Ancient Greek Geometric Art. Create a scratch art vase. You can also make faux Greek pottery with this paper plate craft or use a terra cotta pot to make a Greek vase

ART: Make Greek Masks (put on a Greek play?)

MAKE: Make a Trojan Horse of your own

LISTEN: You can listen to the Iliad by Homer or The Iliad for Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church

READ: read about the Trojan Horse. Build a horse with room inside?

WRITE: Various Notebooking Pages to download – themes of Hoplites, Acropolis, Greek Chariot, Medusa, Apollo, Greek Masks, and also some Greek coins to download

LESSON PLAN: The Odyssey Assignment (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Learn a lot of information about Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece For Kids

Chapter 20: Greece Gets Civilized Again (800bce)

PE: Read about the olympics and do olympic themed things

PE: click here and then click on go to the Olympic games down below and do the activity

UNIT: Why Do We Say That? Latin / Greek Vocabulary and Foreign Phrases Commonly Used in English PDF Download

UNIT: Check out this whole unit on Ancient Greece, including pages for vocab, lapbook printables, geography, daily life and much much more!

LESSON PLAN: Tracing the Development of Democracy in Ancient Greece (7th grade)

LAPBOOK: ancient greek lapbook

VOCABULARY: Visit this page and scroll down to the vocabulary minibook. Download, print and fill out.

ART: Read about Ancient Greece Archaic Period Art

ART: Make a papier mache Grecian urn. This is a great technique to make some very realistic looking urns!

ART: Learn about Ancient Greek Columns and then sketch them. (Maybe a notebooking page with 3 boxes and lines for writing about each type of column?)

ART / MATH: Create columns from paper tubes

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about Ancient Greece with this fun site!

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about the Parthenon and some of the tools and techniques used to build it.

INTERACTIVE: Watch and Read some of Aesop’s fables online.

INTERACTIVE: Play this Hare and Tortoise game online

VIDEO: Learn about the Parthenon

VIDEO: Learn about the world’s first computer which was built by the Greeks and lost in a shipwreck.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Play this Adventures in Ancient Greece game

MATH: Roll up a sheet of paper and secure with tape. Balance a book on top of the column. Will it hold the book? Add another book. Add another. How many books will the column hold? Make 4 columns and see how many books 4 (one in each corner) will hold.

READ: Read about Aesop and one of his tales

LANGUAGE ARTS: After reading some of the fables, use fablechart“>this chart (PDF download) to write about what you’ve read.

LANGUAGE ARTS: What are the characteristics of a fable? Write your own fable.

WRITING: Write your name in Greek letters

WRITING: Read The Tortoise and The Hare by Aesop. Visit this page and scroll down to the Hare and Tortoise notebooking page. Use it to write about the fable.

FURTHER READING:
Learn about daily life in Greece,
look at a typical Greek house.
Learn some more about Greek Art
read about Greek Home life
growing up in Greece
arts and theatre

Chapter 21: The Medes and the Persians (700-525bce)

COOKING: Read about Faloodeh, the ancestor of ice cream and then make some! (400BCE, but we’re fibbing a little to fit it in).

ART: Learn about geometric patterns in Islamic art with this lesson plan

ART: Make bookmarks in the style of Persian rugs.

LESSON PLAN: Understanding the Persian Wars (7th grade)

Chapter 22: Sparta and Athens (600s bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

COMPARE & CONTRAST: Use a compare and contrast notebooking page to write out the differences between Sparta and Athens

SOCIAL STUDIES: What sort of activity could be done about the politics in Athens- learn about democracy, do some voting…

ART: You could try carving some zucchini sculptures

VIDEOS: Sparta and Athens were very different cities. See the videos here to see what each city focused on

READ & LAPBOOK: There were several other city states in the Greek Empire. Read about them here. Then visit this page and scroll down to download the city states lapbook to complete.

LESSON PLAN: Touring Athens During the Golden Age (7th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Greek Against Greek: Athens vs. Sparta (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Learn about Sparta
more about Sparta
Learn about Athens
more about Athens
Read about the Greek city-states. Which were the 5 most powerful?

Chapter 23: The Greek Gods

READ: What are myths? How have they shaped our culture? Why are they important?

READING: Read some stories of Greek Heroes

READ: Read from The Book of Goddesses – about these goddesses: Athena and Maia

READ & THINK: Read Hercules and the Wagoner (pg52) in The Children’s Book of Virtues. What virtue does this story teach us about?

READ: Greek Myths, written for kids

READ: Read the Story of Dionysis and The Sword of Damocles from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin on Project Gutenberg

MORE BOOKS: D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Tales of ancient Greece

INTERACTIVE: Greek Gods and Heroes

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about what makes a myth and then write one of your own with this online game

LESSON PLAN: This is a good lesson plan and starting point for teaching about Persephone and Hades.

ONLINE VIDEO: Here’s a great cartoon version of the story of Persephone and Hades.

OTHER VIDEOS: Jim Henson’s the Story Teller: Greek Myths – these are awesome!!

ART / RELIGIOUS STUDIES: Make a mobile showing the family tree of the Greek gods and goddesses.

WRITING: Ancient Greece Notebooking Pages

FURTHER READING:
Learn about Greek gods and goddesses
more gods and goddesses

Chapter 24: The Wars of the Greeks (431-399bce)

NETFLIX STREAMING: Greeks: Crucible of Civilization

INTERACTIVE: Learn about the history of catapults

ART: Read about Classical Greek Sculpture

MAKE: Make a Greek Shield

READ: About The Brave Three Hundred in Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin on Project Gutenberg

READ: Pericles (Pages 119-128) in Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children. Read about the real Pericles. How are the stories different? Similar? Why might Shakespeare, from the 1600s have written about Pericles from so long ago?

FURTHER READING:
greeks at war

Chapter 25: Alexander the Great (336-323bce)

READ: Read about Socrates, who was the teacher of Plato. Read about Plato and Plato 2. Plato was the teacher of Aristotle. Read about Aristotle. Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander The Great.

READ: After Alexander the Great died, the Colossus of Rhodes was built. Read about it here. Compare the Colossus to the Statue of Liberty!

CRITICAL THINKING: Get out some dried beans and examine them like these famous philosophers might have done.

NETFLIX STREAMING: Beyond the Movie: Alexander

GAME: Print out and play Digging Up Greece, a board game

MAKE: The Greeks used wax tablets for writing notes and everyday writing. Here’s an idea to replicate what it might have been like to use a waxed tablet. Making a real one seems fairly easy though. Maybe for younger kids, a parent should do the chiseling part. Here‘s another site with more info. And one more.

LESSON PLAN: Alexander the Great: Hero or Villain? (7th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Recognizing Ancient Greek Achievements in the Modern World
(7th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Discovering References to Greek Mythology in Popular Expressions (7th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Significant Figures in Ancient Greece (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Read more about Alexander The Great

Chapter 26: The People of the Americas (Nazca, Olmec)

MAPWORK: Mark the areas where the Nazca and the Olmec lived.

ART: Learn about Olmec Seated Figure with these activities: Animals and Alter Egos, Communicating With Body Language, Learning About Mesoamerica, Smooth and Polished

ART: Using chalk, try drawing your own Nazca picture on a large blacktop area… at a park? your patio? an empty parking lot?

MAKE: here are some coloring pages of the Nazca lines (click on the image to get a color-able version)

VIDEOS: Olly Steeds has a few short videos about what the Nazca lines might be about. The order for watching them is: Solving the Nazca Puzzle, UFOs in Ancient Peru and then Water Witching Test. There’s another video on there about the Nazca too- The Real Temple of Doom.

VIDEOS: Another video on the lines. Here’s another.

INTERACTIVE: Were there people in America before the “first Americans”?

MATH: Put this tessellation puzzle together. (better for older kids)

Even though it appears that the earliest evidence for Native Americans in the far north is from about 900AD, I’m going to introduce them here to continue the theme that things were happening all over the world all at the same time. Just because there’s no evidence, does not mean that people weren’t living there!

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about the First Nations and Inuit people with this website.

ONLINE VIDEO: Watch this you tube video about Inuksuk.

LAPBOOK: lots of great mini books to create a lapbook about Arctic regions

MAKE: Learn about Inuit Inukshuk and Inunnguaq. Make one from clay

INTERACTIVE: Read and listen to the Inuit creation story

FOLDER GAMES: Here are some Arctic folder games to print out and play, including one matching shadows of Inukshuk

FURTHER READING:
Here’s some more to read about the lines
Read some more about the Olmecs
Here’s a very in depth writing about the Olmecs
Read about Olmec mythology
Here’s a good general reading about the Olmecs

Chapter 27: The Rise of Rome

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

LOOK: Here’s a picture of what a fasces looked like. If you don’t have access to an old dime with a fasces on the back, here’s one to look at. The fasces symbol occurs often in American culture- here are some places to see it:
The National Guard Bureau Seal
Seal of the United States Senate
Lincoln’s hands rest on 2 fasces with the axes removed in the Lincoln Memorial
4 Fasces flank the memorial of Lincoln at the memorial of the Gettysburg Address
State seal of Colorado
Statue of George Washington
Knights of Columbus emblem
Above the door to Chicago’s city hall

WRITE: Here’s the Etruscan Alphabet. How is it the same and different from other alphabets we’ve seen so far? Write your name and some words.

READ: Not much is known about the Etruscans. Read a little here.

READ: Here’s another version of Romulus and Remus. Compare and contrast the two stories with this notebooking page.

ART: Here (PPT Download) is a power point presentation on Etruscan art.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Read this article about how Romulus and Remus may have been real. What do you think?

SOCIAL STUDIES: Here’s some more about all the different versions of the story.

LESSON PLAN: Discovering Etruscan and Greek Influences on Roman Civilizations (8th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Patricians and Pleibeians: Struggle for Power (8th grade)

FURTHER READING:
More Romulus and Remus
Read about Roman Patricians
Read about Plebians and Patricians
More about Plebians and Patricians

Chapter 28: The Roman Empire

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

INTERACTIVE: Gallery of Roman Mosaics

INTERACTIVE: Take a tour of a Roman town and learn about the different sections

NETFLIX STREAMING: Colosseum: A Gladiator’s Story

ART: Look at some Roman Mosaics, like this one of Alexander The Great. Here’s more. Create a mosaic… use colored squares of paper, broken pieces of ceramic on wood or flat marbles on a window…. You can try out a mosaic online first.

READ: Although most of the Roman gods and goddesses were borrowed from the Greeks, and later on from the Egyptians and other cultures, there were some that were of Roman origin. Janus is one of those. Read about Janus. Print out this Janus mask and color it, or make your own!

MATH: Use post-it notes to make mosaics. Patterning, following a diagram

COOKING: Learn about Ancient Roman recipes and try one or two. Libum (sweet cheesecake), Mulsum (honeyed wine) (adults only of course) and Boiled Eggs with Pine Nut Sauce look pretty easy!

ART: a nice large unit on Roman art

CREATIVE WRITING: Read about the city of Rome. Now, write a guidebook to the city: What were Rome’s most famous landmarks or buildings? How would someone travel to Rome or around Rome? Look at guidebooks from other cities to get ideas. ART: Read about Roman art.

MATH: Learn about arches and build one. How much weight can it hold? Test it.

MATH: Read about Roman numerals. Complete this romannumerals“>mini book (PDF download) (from Teach.Learn.Imagine.!)

MATH: Look at pictures of Roman aqueducts. Create a working aqueduct and then papier mache it!

MATH: Build a working aqueduct (grade 7)

READ: Look at how roads are made today. Compare modern techniques to Roman roads

SOCIAL STUDIES: Read more about Roman Roads. Build a Roman road.

UNIT STUDY: on Rome

UNIT: It’s Greek to Me! Greek and Roman Mythology PDF Download (grade 3)

LESSON PLAN: Dolls in Tunics and Teddies in Togas (grades 5-12)

LESSON PLAN: Writing a Travel Guide About Daily Life in Ancient Rome (8th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Read about the Roman gods
Interactive Reading about the gods
even more on Roman gods!
Roman architecture
Read about the gladiators
Here’s a neat layout of a Roman house with links to pictures of reconstructed versions.

Chapter 29: Rome’s Wars With Carthage (254-202bce)

INTERACTIVE: Dress a Roman Soldier and learn about the items they had and carried

SOCIAL STUDIES: Download this lesson plan on Rome’s expansion

SOCIAL STUDIES: Print out these elephant outlines one from the front view and one from the side view. Draw what it must have looked like for the Romans to see the Elephants crashing toward them. What would they have had on their backs? What would they have been pulling?

READ: Read The Story of Regulus from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin on Project Gutenberg GAME: Play this little choose your own adventure (for older kids)

LESSON PLAN: Understanding the Punic Wars Between Rome and Carthage (8th grade)

FURTHER READING:
read about the Roman army
Read more about Hannibal

Chapter 30: The Aryans of India (563-483bce)

MUSIC: Listen to some Indian music. What sorts of instruments do you hear? How does the music make you feel? How does it make your body want to move?

RELIGIOUS STUDY: An older child can read the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and write a book report about it. Are there any similarities between Siddhartha’s life and any other religious figures you’ve learned about?

RELIGIOUS STUDIES: Here are some techniques for guided meditation to try out.

SCIENCE / PE: Create a miniature of Barbur’s garden and then play Horses and Elephants to reenact the war in which the Moghul’s gained power.

INTERACTIVE: Deciphering Buddhist Art

VIDEO: Watch this video about Siddhartha

VIDEO: Here’s another Life of the Buddha

VIDEO: Watch a video on Buddhist meditation.

LESSON PLAN: Discovering the Buddha’s Path to Enlightenment (7th grade)

FURTHER READING: Read more about Buddha

Chapter 31: The Mauryan Empire of India (321-233bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

VIDEOS: Watch these animated Jataka videos online. What lessons do they teach?

UNIT: Crafting Our Way through Ancient India – PDF Download

LESSON PLAN: A Lesson plan utilizing Buddhist folktales

LESSON PLAN: Creating a Mandala of Hindu Beliefs (7th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Interpreting Ashoka’s Edicts (7th grade)

Chapter 32: China: Writing and the Qin (230-212bce)

ART: Read about Chinese Shadow Puppets, Here’s some more info. Make your own shadow puppets to your favorite story or a story of your own making. Make the designs on cardstock and glue them to popsicle sticks. Make a theater by putting up a sheet with a bright light behind it. Remember to keep out of the way of the light!

ART: Create good fortune banners for Chinese New Year with some simple Chinese characters

ART: Read about the history of paper and then, Make paper. Here’s a papermaking kit.

ART: Learn about the army of Terra Cotta warriors and then make some of your own from terra cotta clay

ART: Learn Chinese paper cutting and make some.

MAKE: Create Emperor Qin’s hat and read a little about him on this site.

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

NETFLIX STREAMING: Modern Marvels: The Great Wall of China, China’s Terracotta Warriors

MATH: Build a Great Wall with sugar cubes or those terra cotta bricks you might have already made.

MATH: Tangram Puzzles

WRITING: Read a little about the history of Chinese writing. Practice writing Chinese numbers with a brush and ink. Here are some simple characters to write.

WRITING: here are some Chinese idioms to download. Copy some onto scrolls?

LESSON PLAN: Examining the Reign of Qin Shi Huang Di (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
read about the Great Wall of China
more advanced but really nice reading about the Great Wall
Reading about the Terra Cotta warriors – more advanced, but very cool

Chapter 33: Confucius (551-479bce)

SCIENCE / MATH: Learn about how Confucius invented multiplication tables and make a garden like those that philosophers taught in

SCIENCE: read about kites and make a kite from thin paper or a plastic bag and some balsa wood sticks – maybe let kids brainstorm how they think a kite could be made and try out their ideas. Do they work? Why or why not? What can we try differently?

SMALL MOTOR: read more about Confucius Here’s another idea for making scrolls.

GAME: Mahjong was a game invented in China during Confucius’ lifetime. Read about the history of the game here. Create cherry blossom scrolls

RELIGION / PHILOSOPHY: Read about Chinese deities and compare the idea of deities versus philosophers like Confucius. Read from The Book of Goddesses – about these goddesses: Hsi Wang Mu, Chang O and Kuan Yin

NETFLIX STREAMING: Biography: Confucius: Words of Wisdom

LESSON PLAN: Learning About Three Ways of Thought: Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism (7th grade)

UNIT: Confucius: Life & Influence (7th grade)

Chapter 34: The Rise of Julius Caesar (100bce)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

FURTHER READING:
Read about Caesar
Read about Cicero
Daily Life in Rome – very kid friendly reading

Chapter 35: Caesar the Hero (100-44bce)

MAPWORK: Look at this map and read about why the Romans invaded Britain.

MORE BOOKS: Cleopatra

MAKE: Read a little about Cleopatra and make her headwear.

READ: Read about Caesar’s invasion of Britain and learn how the British fought back

READ: Learn about Caratacus a king of some British tribes, who fought back against the Romans. Use his quote “If you want to rule the world, does it follow that everyone else welcomes enslavement?” for copywork.

WRITING: Have the child write 5 facts they’ve learned about Julius Caesar.

LANGUAGE ARTS: “Crossing the Rubicon” is something that Julius Caesar did literally, and is now a term that we use figuratively, meaning that something is done that cannot be undone. It is called an idiom. An idiom is a phrase where the combination of words means something different than its literal meaning or the meaning of each individual word. Read Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish. Have the children identify the idioms and state what was actually meant. Here’s a lesson plan on idioms, using the book More Parts by Tedd Arnold.

INTERACTIVE: Play a game to identify the meaning of some idioms.

NETFLIX STREAMING: Cleopatra (1963)

UNIT: “Et tu, Brute?” – The Characters, Conflict and Historical Context of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (6th grade)

LESSON PLAN: Debating Whether Military Expansion Helped or Hurt Rome (8th grade)

FURTHER READING:
The Met has an ancient Egyptian D20.

Chapter 36: The First Roman Prince (43-14bce)

READ: PBS mini series The Roman Empire episode one synopsis is about Augustus Caesar and how he ruled.

READ: Read about some of the Emperors after Augustus in the synopsis of Episode 2 of the PBS mini series The Roman Empire

READ: Augustus and Julius had months named after them. Here’s a quick blurb about how the calendar was named. Here’s a little more about how we organize our days. Learn more about what the ancient Roman calendar looked like

READ: Read about Virgil a poet who lived in Augustus’ time. Read the Aeneid in simple language for kids. Download this PDF mini book to fill out about Rome

NETFLIX STREAMING: watch this video about the ancient city of Petra. Do you recognize the entrance? Where have you seen it before? The Hidden City of Petra Consider watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Chapter 37: The Beginning of Christianity

LESSON PLAN: The Beginnings of Christianity (8th grade)

Chapter 38: The End of the Ancient Jewish Nation

LESSON PLAN: The Modern Synagogue: A Reflection of Jewish Traditions (8th grade)

Chapter 39: Rome and the Christians

READ: more true information about the great fire in Rome and Nero

POWER POINT: Download and view this power point presentation on Emperor Nero. Here’s another about Nero at Circus Maximus.

UNIT: Rome and Early Christian Art PDF Download (grade 3)

Chapter 40: Rome Begins to Weaken (61-63ad)

POWER POINT: Download and view this Power Point presentation on Boudicca’s Revolt. Make a storyboard in 6 parts of what happened in the presentation.

POWERPOINT: Find some powerpoint presentations on Boudicca to learn from

INTERACTIVE: Read about the Romans in Scotland and then Learn about Hadrian and his wall

INTERACTIVE: Play this little game about the Romans in Scotland

INTERACTIVE: Why did the British rebel?

INTERACTIVE: Learn more about Pompeii and the volcano with these interactive exhibits.

VIDEO: Listen to this song about Boudicca from Horrible Histories

READ: Read about Rome’s power weakening in this synopsis of the PBS mini series The Roman Empire

READ: Learn about Boudicca the Celtic queen who led the rebellion against the Romans

READ: Mount Vesuvius is a volcano that erupted in 79AD. It buried 2 towns under 9 feet of volcanic ash. Read a little about the cities and the volcano.

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

ART: Learn how to draw a volcano with chalk pastels

LESSON PLAN: Creating Columns to Evaluate Roman Emperors (8th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Read more about the Romans in Britain, complete with map
Read about the Romans defense of Britain

Chapter 41: The Attacking Barbarians (395-453ad)

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

READ: Read about Attila The Hun

READ: Read about Alaric leader of the Visigoths.

READ: Learn more about the Vandals

FURTHER READING:
Here’s a little history of the Visigoths
More info about the visigoths

Chapter 42: The End of Rome (475-476ad)

MAPWORK: The 2nd page of this PDF download is a Map of the Roman EmpireThis is a blank map of the same area to fill in.

MAPWORK: Obtain a map of the area. Locate and mark key locations from the stories on the map. Compare the map to a world map or globe and locate the area on the larger map.

NETFLIX STREAMING: Secrets of the Dead: Lost Ships of Rome

INTERACTIVE: Play Dig It Up a game about digging at a Roman town site

READ: Learn more about Romulus Augustus and what the Visigoths did after they destroyed Rome

LESSON PLAN: Culminating Project: Creating a Mobile to Compare Ancient Civilizations (7th grade)

FURTHER READING:
Read about what happened to the Romans
read more
Another reading about Romulus Augustus

So there you have it! But wait, you have some questions?

Why doesn’t every chapter have a lot of activities?
In most case, the answer is simply because I haven’t located them yet. I’m working on it! Do you know of an activity that fits in a certain chapter? Email me with the URL of the activity and in which chapter you think it would best fit.

No worksheets or coloring pages? Why not?
For the most part, we don’t use coloring pages and worksheets, so I didn’t look for them. I am not above adding them in though because a lot of people do use them. If you know of one, email me with the URL of the activity and in which chapter you think it would best fit.

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