Teaching Ancient Civilizations

Learning about ancient civilizations means time-traveling to distant lands and making surprising discoveries. Children and teens are often fascinated by pyramids, hieroglyphics, dynasties, and ancient mythology.

They may like to learn about horse-drawn chariots, ziggurats, and early calendars.

The ancients made advances in farming, mathematics, law, and in organizing settlements and cities.

Learning about ancient civilizations often means learning about science, art, language arts, and culture, as well as about history.

These activities can help your kids learn about ancient Egypt, Africa, Mesopotamia, China, the Americas, and the Indus Valley—as well as Ancient Greece and Rome.

Jump to:

• Ancient Civilizations Activities
• Books about Ancient Civilizations
• Free Ancient Civilization Curriculum & Interactives

Ancient Civilizations Activities

Learn to write in hieroglyphics. Kids are fascinated by the ancient Egyptian written language—use our free hieroglyphics printable to bring written fun into the study of ancient civilizations.

Try some videos, hands-on activities, read-alouds, and rabbit trails to help your kids explore ancient civilizations.(Always preview videos and resources for suitability for your family).

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only one of the seven named ancient wonders remains standing. Kids are often fascinated to learn which one, and they wonder what happened to the other six!

• Learn the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Challenge your kids to make a travel brochure for the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Ancient Writing. Ancient civilizations used different tools for writing and developed different forms of writing, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform.

• Using clay, play dough or other modeling media, have your kids experiment with pressing symbols and picture-words into the surface.
• Teens and some tweens can read and view the Khan Academy lessons on cuneiform and hieroglyphs.
• Have older kids do more research and tell about differences between hieroglyphics and cuneiform.
• Watch a video explaining how papyrus is made.
• Watch a video to learn the significance of the Rosetta Stone, such as this one from Bedtime History.

Ancient Astronomy. Some ancient astronomy was on the right track, making sense with today's science. Other ancient astronomy reflected attempts to make sense of the world but were not scientifically accurate. Still, the ancients' sense of the sky and its celestial objects often reveal a lot about the culture of ancient peoples.

Teens and some tweens in particular may be able to learn a lot from the astronomy of the ancients.

• Watch a video together and discuss, such as
  • History of Astronomy in the Ancient World
  • Ancient Greek Astronomy
  • How the Ancient Greeks Proved that the Earth was Round
• Read about the world's oldest astronomical site and discuss
• Explore the ancient world's astronomical observatories online
• Make a model of an ancient observatory such as a pyramid aligned with the stars. Have your child use Lego bricks or even build in Minecraft.

Telling time. Your kids can learn to tell time using the same tool the ancients developed—a sundial.

• Make a sundial. 
• Read about an ancient Egyptian sundial.

Online courses. Teens and tweens can do the relevant sections of one or both of these free online courses.

• Khan Academy Unit on Second-Wave Civilizations lessons covering Persia, Greece, Empire of Alexander the Great, Rise of Rome, Roman Empire, Ancient China, Americas, India, plus religions of the times/places.
• Crash Course World History videos on YouTube, episodes 2-10 covering ancient civilizations.

Virtual tour through Ancient Rome. Take a virtual tour through Ancient Rome with this 14-minute video from Smarthistory.

A tour through Ancient Rome in 320 C.E.

Books about Ancient Civilizations

These are great read-alouds about ancient civilizations.

And Read Aloud Revival has curated a great list of picture books for ancient history.

Free Ancient Civilization Curriculum & Interactives

Discovering Our Past: Ancient Civilizations - This McGraw-Hill graphic novel and accompanying study guide for grade 6 are available on the Wayback Machine archive. An English Learner Handbook and Active Reading Note-taking Guide, both with worksheets,  are also available.

The Core Knowledge Foundation has free curriculum available online:

• Ancient China - Grade 2
• Ancient Greece - Grade 2
• Ancient Rome - Grade 3
• Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations - Grade 5
• Ancient Greece and Rome - Grade 6

The Texas Computer Education Association's Exploring Ancient Civilizations collection includes many interactive websites, maps, timelines, and more for learning about ancient civilizations.

Another excellent interactive resource, Rome: Interactive Exploration, lets kids “explore objects from Ancient Rome and discover how Romans portrayed themselves and wished to be remembered." The objects also give insights into the daily life and beliefs during the period.

Be sure to include these interactive resources about Ancient Egypt, where kids can learn about cats, mummies, the afterlife, hieroglyphics, and more.