Years 3 and 4 Travel Back 12,000 Years

On a day of very extreme weather, Years 3 and 4 travelled to the Chiltern Museum to experience life in the Stone and Iron Ages. This linked to their summer topic of Horrible Histories which covers both of these periods, before moving on to the Roman invasion after half term.

The children were well prepared with warm coats, layers and wellies, nevertheless we still came home soaked, but in good spirits from a very informative and enjoyable day. Year 4 started with the Stone Age and were greeted by Rebecca who had a good sniff of us to decide whether we were friend or foe. She thought we may be from the Bear tribe, but was happy to learn we were actually the Deer tribe, so took us to her camp. There the children learned how to make shelters (covering wooden frames with animal skin), face paint themselves to scare off wild animals and also add a bit of camouflage, make jewellery from twine and bone and also cook parsnips under the camp fire. All of these things being genuine activities from the Stone Age era. They also lit a cotton ball using a more modern ‘steel’, mimicking the flint used 12,000 years ago, whilst also being shown a fire bow – a tool used for turning sticks to create sparks from which the fire was lit. The children were able to handle Stone Age tools and weapons and try on animal skins. They learned that every part of the animal was used to show respect for the kill.

After a spot of drying out over lunch, we moved on to the Iron Age house where we were met by Kim and her friend, both of whom were from the Iron Age. They took us inside and proudly showed us their ‘cooker’, fridge, bed and other equipment. In those times the whole family lived together in the one room, for security and warmth. The children had the opportunity to whisk milk to make butter, grind grain to make flour, make a thumb pot from clay, and also make bread. By this time, the tools had become more sophisticated and outside was a smelting oven where the tools, including scythes, arrow heads, pots, chains and other metal objects were cast.

Despite experiencing thunder, lightning, hail, torrential rain, high winds and a tiny bit of sunshine, everyone had a very memorable and exciting day.

Can you identify the activities?

 {besps}classes/y4/chiltern19{/besps}