“Stone Age to Bronze Age”

Teaching about history to lower key stage two pupils can be quite a challenge for educationalists.  Sometimes it can be difficult to engage and enthuse children, especially with a fact heavy topic such as the “Stone Age to the Bronze Age” area of the national curriculum.  It can also be quite difficult to identify ways in which the subject can provide “touchstone” opportunities to interact with other aspects of the curriculum – to provide cross curricular extensions for the teaching team to implement.

Over the last few days we have seen some excellent examples of this subject area interacting with art and design elements.  Palaeolithic art, cave paintings (also known as parietal art), links in with this topic area providing a historical context for exploring ideas such as concept art, expressionism and how ancient tribes interacted with nature.  It can also give teachers the opportunity to introduce new painting techniques to the children.

Year 3 Children Create Parietal Art (Cave Paintings)

Cave art from schoolchildren.

A wonderful example of cave art from school children from Bowlee Community Primary. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Cave Art Teaching Resources

Here are some articles on parietal art, that can help teachers with this term topic.

Indonesian Cave Paintings Change Ideas About the Origin of Art – Exploring the origins of human culture.

Cave Women Played an Important Role in Cave Art – The role of women in early societies.

Famous Cave Paintings Threatened by Pollution – The effect of pollution on ancient cave paintings.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s user-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.