Early Farmers, Skara Brae and Stonehenge – Year 3

With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a high-quality history lesson designed to introduce Year 3 pupils to life during the Neolithic period, when people began farming and living in settled communities. The lesson supports the National Curriculum by helping children develop a secure understanding of chronology, explore how people lived in the past, and use historical evidence to understand changes over time.

Lesson Focus

This engaging lesson introduces pupils to the lives of early farmers, helping children understand how farming changed the way people lived. Pupils will explore evidence from Skara Brae and Stonehenge to discover what life was like thousands of years ago.

Students will explore:

Who the early farmers were and when they lived.
How farming changed the lives of people in Britain.
The crops early farmers grew and the animals they kept.
How early farmers lived in settled communities.
What homes were like, including the stone houses at Skara Brae.
The tools, materials and technologies used by early farmers.
Why people built monuments such as Stonehenge.
What archaeological evidence can tell us about the past.
How Neolithic life was different from life today.
National Curriculum Links

This lesson supports the Year 3 National Curriculum requirement to develop pupils’ understanding of:

Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, including:

Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
The Neolithic hunter-gatherers and early farmers, for example, Skara Brae.
Developing an awareness of chronology and placing events and periods on a timeline.
Understanding some of the ways in which we know about the past through historical evidence and archaeological remains.
Lesson Format

This lesson is provided in PowerPoint format and includes detailed, engaging slides. It can be taught as written or adapted to suit individual class needs.

The 15-slide lesson uses clear explanations, images, questions and historical evidence to help young learners investigate what life was like for early farming communities.

Learning Objective

To understand what life was like for early farmers and how farming changed life in Britain.

Success Criteria

By the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:

Explain who the early farmers were.
Describe how farming changed the way people lived.
Identify some crops grown and animals kept by early farmers.
Describe what homes at Skara Brae were like.
Identify some tools and materials used by early farmers.
Explain why Stonehenge is an important prehistoric monument.
Use archaeological evidence to make simple statements about Neolithic life.
Compare the lives of early farmers with life today.