Stone Age to Iron Age - The Complete Series (7 lessons)

Within this Stone Age to Iron Age KS2 History series are seven detailed lessons plans with a corresponding slideshow for each teaching input, packed full of information, facts and questions to challenge your class's historical enquiry skills. Also included in each lesson are differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources, such as worksheets, picture cards, information sheets, challenges and quizzes. All the research and planning has been done for you, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy learning about prehistoric Britain with your class!

This Stone Age to Iron Age Year 3 and Year 4 scheme of work is also part of our The Prehistoric World Cross-Curricular Topic, which includes lessons across a range of subjects to help immerse your KS2 class in the prehistoric period.

What is prehistory? This is the question that is posed to your class at the beginning of this lesson as they start to consider how we learn about a time in the past before there were written records of events and people. They will explore a prehistoric Britain timeline, placing the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age chronologically, and think about how archaeologists find out about these periods when there is no written evidence to rely on.

This 'What is prehistory?' KS2 History lesson is a great way to introduce your class to prehistoric Britain and contains all the planning and resources you need in one handy download.

This Stone Age KS2 History lesson for Year 3 and Year 4 classes recaps the timeline of prehistoric Britain before going on to explore the earliest part of the Stone Age – the Palaeolithic period. Your children will find out what Britain was like when it was still part of mainland Europe and then look at Stone Age people, Homo sapiens, and how and when these Stone Age people first came to Britain.

Containing a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow presentation and a set of printable resources for adaptive learning activities, this Stone Age People lesson pack for KS2 has everything you need to deliver the lesson.

Your class will have the chance to explore a famous Stone Age archaeological site in this Star Carr KS2 lesson as they continue to learn about the Stone Age and the people who lived during the Mesolithic era. They will start by finding out how the melting ice sheets from the last Ice Age caused Britain to become an island, then go on to explore what life was like for the people who lived in Britain at the time.

The artefacts found at Star Carr in Yorkshire provide a fascinating insight into life during the Stone Age, and gives your KS2 class the chance to explore this for themselves. They can even make their own Star Carr antler headdresses!

Stonehenge is one of the greatest mysteries in the world? How did it get there? Who built it and why?

This Stonehenge KS2 History lesson will start by providing some context and looking at how life in the Stone Age had moved on by the Neolithic period and how people had started farming. It then goes on to look at Stonehenge, challenging your class to think about what they can learn about the Stone Age from this site. In their independent work, your Year 3 or Year 4 class can go on a Stonehenge fact hunt using the fact cards and maps provided, or reconstruct Stonehenge for themselves using the information given.

This Bronze Age KS2 History lesson for Year 3 and Year 4 moves on from the Stone Age to explore how life in prehistoric Britain had changed as the Bronze Age dawned. Your class will find out about the bronze-making process, as well as exploring Bronze Age tools, weapons, building materials and other objects.

After the slides in the teaching input have given your class some information about the Bronze Age, your children can then explore the life of a Bronze Age sword from mining the metals to being placed in the sacred marsh when its chief owner dies. Alternatively, they can find out what life might have been like for a child living in the Bronze Age.

Download this Iron Age KS2 History lesson for Year 3 and Year 4 to explore with your class what life was like in Iron Age Britain. Your children will explore farmsteads, hillforts and more before looking at Celtic and Roman influences on Britain. Finally, they will read accounts of society at the time from Roman writers who visited Britain.

Not only will this Iron Age KS2 lesson plan help your children learn about this fascinating prehistoric era, but it will also help develop their historical enquiry and reasoning skills. And it's all prepared and ready to go!

The final lesson in this series gives your class the chance to consolidate all the Stone Age to Iron Age facts that they have learnt throughout the scheme of work. They are challenged to order changes and developments chronologically before having the chance to express their Stone Age to Iron Age understanding in a variety of fun ways.

The lesson ends with a whole class quiz on some key facts on prehistoric Britain, giving them the chance to show off just how much they have learnt!

This Year 3/4 History Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement our History 'changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age' strand. It is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to this scheme of work. Enquiry questions have been included to encourage your children to think deeply about this topic.