Transform your class into expert cartographers with this series of five KS2 geography lessons which focus on map skills and locational knowledge. During this unit, children will learn about key cities of the Islamic empire and use their understanding of latitude and longitude to locate and chart these on a map. Children will learn about the Silk Road network and about the goods and ideas exchanged along the routes. Children will also explore city mapping and practise using technical drawing equipment - such as compasses and protractors - to produce an accurate, to-scale map of the round city of Baghdad.

Each ready-to-teach early Islamic Civilisation KS2 Geography lesson contains a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities, an engaging slideshow and printable resources to support the children's learning.

You may also like our Early Islamic Civilisation Topic Bundle containing four ready-to-teach schemes of work covering History, Geography, Art and DT. 

The cities of the early Islamic civilisation

In this first lesson, your class consider a variety of political, physical and historical maps relating to the early Islamic civilisation and learn how to locate and chart cities on a map.

Children will apply their cartography skills by charting the locations of key Islamic cities onto a map of the territory of the Umayyad Caliphate (c.730 CE) from given latitude and longitude references. If you fancy something different, why not explore the digital map-making option with your class?

This lesson pack comes with everything you need to develop your children's map skills, including: a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities, informative slideshow and engaging, printable resources.

View Lesson 1

The round city of Baghdad

In this second session, children will explore a range of maps to recap their purpose and features as well as to find out more about the round city of Baghdad.

Children will learn about calculating scale and practise their technical drawing skills in order to produce an accurate, to-scale map of the round city of Baghdad. There is an option to carry out this activity as an outdoor, team-building version if you prefer.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack has everything you need to support your children's learning, including: a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities, an informative slideshow and printable resources.

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Trade along the Silk Road

This third session gives children the opportunity to find out about the network of trade routes known as the Silk Road.

Children will learn all about the Silk Road network and discover what goods and ideas were exchanged along its routes. They will consolidate their knowledge by taking part in a highly engaging trading activity.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack has everything you need to support your children's learning, including: a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities, an informative slideshow and printable resources.

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Physical and manmade features of the Silk Road

In this session, children use atlases or Google Earth to locate key trading cities and physical features of the Silk Road.

Children will combine their locational knowledge with their cartography skills to produce an accurate map of the northern route of the Silk Road. A digital map-making option is available along with detailed Teacher Notes.

This lesson pack comes ready-to-teach with a detailed lesson plan, informative slideshow and differentiated, printable resources.

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Biomes along the Silk Road

In this final session, your class will explore what a biome is before identifying and investigating the key biomes found along the routes of the Silk Road.

Children will use their understanding of the climate, landscape, flora and fauna of different biomes to consider the challenges that traders face when travelling through these biomes.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack has everything you need to support your children's learning, including: a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities, an informative slideshow and printable resources.

View Lesson 5