Ancient Greece Activities
Ancient Greece Lesson Plans
If you’re an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some Ancient Greece activities, you’re in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid resources to help you have a successful Ancient Greece unit. We want to help you succeed, whether you use these as an outline or to help supplement your existing unit! All links and resources below are what we personally use in our Ancient Greece unit.
Ancient Greece Activities for Middle School
Ancient Greece Word Wall
When starting off a new ancient civilizations unit, we’re big on vocabulary activities as there is a lot to cover. With that, we always find that word walls are a great tool! This resource includes 26 Ancient Greece vocabulary words that are ready to print and display on your bulletin board. Because images are included on every card, they’re also helpful for your visual learners!
Never used an ancient civilization word wall before? This blog post will teach you how to set up, organize, and use them effectively in your classroom!
Introductory Vocabulary Activities
Just like all of our units, we also like to have vocabulary-based activities. These vocabulary activities for Google Drive are fun ways for students to practice the Ancient Greece vocabulary words in a variety of ways. There’s 8 activities ranging from matching, fill-in-the-blank, Frayer Model, quizlet links, everything you would need for vocabulary! Because they are digital, it’s very easy to have students jump into one of these activities if there’s extra time.
Ancient Greece Unit Introduction
One thing we try to do is make our lessons relevant to students, so connecting present-day Greece to Ancient Greece is something we find important. To do that, we take a more modern approach to our unit and have students complete this unit introduction activity. Students research key details about modern Greece, and when we shift back to ancient times, that prior knowledge makes it easier.
Ancient Greece Slideshow + Note Sheet
We find it helpful to share background information at the start of the unit, so students can make connections during other activities. With this Ancient Greece Slideshow for Google Slides, teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient Greece! This 54-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient Greece, including geography, the Olympics, philosophers, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!
Ancient Greece Bell Ringers
If you’re looking to improve your classroom management and help students review material, these bell ringers are perfect! This set includes 20 Ancient Greece Bell Ringers for Google Drive that are 100% editable and ready to use. These warm-up prompts cover a variety of topics that come up in an Ancient Greece unit while also building helpful skills! Topics covered in this resource include Greek mythology, philosophers, democracy, Athens, Sparta, Hellenistic Kingdoms, and more!
Ancient Greece Map Activity
Geography is another starting topic we find important, but unlike other ancient civilizations, Greece’s geography is a bit different. Our Ancient Greece Geography Activity has three parts; a graphic organizer, map labeling, and an inquiry question at the end. Students will research specific geography terms, label them on a map, and then explain how geography relates to the development of civilization.
Engineering an Empire Video on Ancient Greece
While you’re in the process of introducing Ancient Greece, we found a great video from the History Channel’s Engineering and Empire Series. They have the full 45-minute video up on YouTube, packed with tons of information and nice visuals. This could be used as a full introduction for your unit, use it as a movie day, or as an emergency sub plan.
Minoans and Mycenaeans Inquiry Activity
One of the first historical topics you’re going to cover is the Minoans and Mycenaeans. With that, we find an inquiry activity to be a great approach. In this inquiry activity, students examine photographs from the Minoans and Mycenaeans and make predictions based on those images. They then share those predictions with the class and discussion begins on what we can infer about these early societies.
Ancient Greece Government Simulation and Google Slideshow
Ancient Greece is an excellent civilization to showcase major types of government. Ancient Greece has gone through monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy. We’ve created an Ancient Greece Government Simulation activity that goes through each one individually, and then students act them out. Afterwards, you can go over the pros and cons of each government together. It connects not only to Greece, but to other civilizations throughout history!
Ancient Greece Timeline
If you’re looking to make your Ancient Greece Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient Greece Timeline is the resource you need! In this interactive timeline project, students construct a timeline that features reading passages, maps, and images. The information included in these features covers the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Dark Age, Archaic Greece, Classical Greece, and Hellenistic Civilization. Not only will this activity give students the chance to physically build a timeline, but it will also become a learning tool that they can refer back to throughout the unit!
Panhellenic Games Simulation
This no-prep, game-based Ancient Greece Olympics Simulation will be the highlight of your Ancient Greece unit! In this simulation with printable and digital options, students will “compete” in 8 popular events from the Panhellenic Games and answer trivia questions about the Greeks and Ancient Olympics! In each round, students will learn about a different event from the Panhellenic Games and participate in a classroom-friendly version of the event!
SHEG Athenian Democracy
A free resource we highly recommend related to government in Ancient Greece is from SHEG. The main topic of discussion is whether or not Athens was truly democratic. It’s a DBQ-style resource with lots of great documents to have your students practice analyzing primary resources. This activity also pairs well as a follow-up to our simulation activity.
Acropolis of Athens Activities
This no-prep reading passage and activity set is perfect for teaching about the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon! Whether you use the printable or digital versions, have your students read the passage about the Acropolis of Athens and how its use evolved over time before they complete two creative activities about what they learned! The activities included are a reading comprehension puzzle and short answer questions.
Historical Wife Swap Video from Horrible Histories
It’s not an Ancient Greece Unit without discussing the differences between Athens and Sparta. One resource we like to use as an introduction is a video from Horrible Histories. The 5-minute video does a nice job at showcasing the cultural differences of the two societies through a reality-style wife swap. It’s quick, well done, and the students have a few laughs. Please note however that the link provided is a compilation of their videos, so for Ancient Greece you’ll start at the 8-minute mark.
Peloponnesian Strangers Comic Video
Another great Sparta and Athens resource we recommend is this comic strip video. The original comic was made by McGraw-Hill but we’ve found this video narrates it very well. It covers the story of two friends, one from Sparta and one from Athens, discussing their cultural differences. They cover topics such as home life, activities they grew up participating in, etc.
Athens vs Sparta Statistics Sorting Activity
One of our favorite Athens and Sparta activities is our Athens vs. Sparta Statistics Sorting activity! Students are presented a variety of shuffled statistics on either Athens or Sparta, and match which statistic goes with the proper location. It’s a great way for students to get invested in the topic and maybe even get a little competitive. It works as an intro or review activity and helps students understand how these differences affected each city-state’s way of life.
Athens vs Sparta Rap Battle
A very interactive resource that our students have enjoyed is our Athens vs. Sparta Rap Battle. There are full reading passages on each city-state included, and students conduct research to prepare a rap, song, or poem. This activity allows students to shine and get creative while being able to identify those differences. Any time we’ve used this activity, it’s always been a blast in class!
Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War
If you are looking for an effortless, step-by-step approach to teaching your students about the Persian Wars or Peloponnesian War, you are in the right place! This lesson and overview activity will guide students through the many twists and turns of the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War in an organized and thorough way. With both a printable and digital version, this resource divides the events of these wars into eight different sections. Some of the topics covered in these sections include: What happened during the First Greco-Persian War? Why did tensions grow between Athens and Sparta? Who won the Second Greco-Persian War? And more!
Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology Overview Slideshow
No Ancient Greece unit is complete without discussing some Greek Mythology. While every teacher is going to be different, we like to give at least an overview of the major Greek Gods and Goddesses. With that, we start with an overview slideshow introducing the Olympians.
Greek God Rap
We’ve also found a helpful review of the Greek gods and goddesses through this Greek God Rap Video. It’s a bit cringy, but it helps reinforce and retain the info in a fun and silly way for your students. And honestly the song is pretty catchy once you listen to it.
TED-Ed Greek Mythology Videos
If you want to take your Greek mythology section further, TED-Ed has wonderful videos on some of the different myths. Two of our favorites are the Myth of Prometheus and Pandora’s Box. They’re both very well-made, students enjoy them, and you can even turn them into EdPuzzles.
Greek Mythology Instagram Activity
If you’re looking for a fun review activity of Greek gods and goddesses, we do have a very engaging Instagram activity. Students take different gods and goddesses and create Instagram profiles for them, including identifying photos and writing captions. It’s great for review, and students really get into it.
Greek Mythology Activity Sheet
An easy, low-prep activity option we always recommend are our Early Finisher or Emergency Sub Plan activities. We’ve created one specifically pertaining to Greek Mythology with three activities, including mystery lockers, word search, and password game! These games are perfect to have on hand when students fly through an assignment or something that comes up last minute.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief”
Another easy activity that students enjoy is watching The Lightning Thief from Disney. It’s a great way to wrap up your Greece unit or right before spring break, especially if you need an activity to finish up the unit. It’s a very convenient activity as it’s available on Disney+.
Alexander the Great Gallery Walk
Looking to give your students a museum experience about Alexander the Great ? This gallery walk activity will be a meaningful way to teach your students about Alexander the Great and his empire! This activity highlights 13 different artifacts, paintings, and passages, along with corresponding information that provides an overview of what is known about Alexander the Great. With printable, digital, and editable options and an answer key, you have everything you need for a successful activity!
DBQ Project: How Great Was Alexander the Great?
Another topic we like to bring up during Ancient Greece is Alexander the Great and the Macedonians. We’ve found a very good DBQ resource from the DBQ Project that discusses whether Alexander was actually deserving of the Great title. The resource includes a map showing how much land Alexander conquered and discusses how it affected the people of each continent. It’s also a good primary and secondary source analysis activity.
Ancient Greece Job Fair
An engaging activity we’ve created for students to learn about key leaders and philosophers is our Ancient Greece Job Fair. It includes resumes for Pericles, Socrates, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great. Students analyze their resumes and decide which various jobs to hire them for. Not only does this activity reinforce unit information, but it promotes job skills that many students would otherwise not get.
We’re The Thinkers
Another video from Horrible Histories that we’ve enjoyed is “We’re the Thinkers”. It’s a parody of a Monkees’ theme song that covers Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and Diogenes, and it can be a fun addition to the job fair activity.
Ancient Greece Research Project
Looking for a creative way to teach your students about the many significant philosophers, writers, scientists, mathematicians, historians, doctors, and leaders of ancient Greece? If so, you and your students will enjoy this research project! In this no-prep activity, each student will select one of the historical figures from ancient Greece, research them, and prepare a short speech that they will present to their classmates from the perspective of that historical figure. The speech will highlight the accomplishments of their historical figure, and then students can vote on the most impactful Greek leaders and scholars after everyone has presented their speeches. Historical figures include Aristarchus, Philip II of Macedon, Thucydides, and more!
Ancient Greece Test
Save yourself time at the end of your Ancient Greece Unit with this Ancient Greece Test and Study Guide! This ready-made test has printable and digital options, and all text is 100% editable. Each version includes 2 different testing options for Google Docs and for Google Forms, so you have the flexibility to use whichever version works best for you! To help your students prepare for the test, this resource also includes an editable Ancient Greece Study Guide for Google Docs!
Ancient Greece Agenda Slides
Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient Greece Unit? These Ancient Greece Daily Agenda Slides Templates will help you save time and better immerse your students in the unit! These slides for Google Drive are editable and each template features a photograph of Ancient Greece in the background, as well as Ancient Greece clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!
Ancient Greece Bulletin Board Kit
Connect your bulletin boards to your course content in just five minutes with this effortless, ready-to-print Ancient Greece Bulletin Board Kit! With this bulletin board kit, students have the opportunity to view artifacts used by those living in Greece thousands of years ago! If you want to incorporate more primary sources into your classroom but don’t know where to start, this is an easy way! The 25 artifact posters include the titles of the artifacts, when they were created or used, where they were found, and where they’re currently located.
Ancient Greece Bookmarks
These printable Ancient Greece Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient Greece unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient Greece. The bookmarks are 100% black and white so that students can color in the images or personalize them as they wish! These coloring bookmarks make a great prize, a short early finisher activity, or can even help students save time when using their textbooks!
Ancient Greece Early Finisher Activity or Emergency Sub Plan
A final easy, no-prep activity is another of our Early Finisher activities for Ancient Greece. It includes a matching puzzle about the leaders from the golden age of Athens, and a vocabulary crossword puzzle. This activity sheet is an additional worksheet to have on hand in emergencies or students need something extra to work on.
Teaching Ancient Greece
When teaching any ancient civilization, it’s always important to have activities that make the content fun and engaging for students. If you liked any of our Ancient Greece activities, you’ll love our Ancient Greece Unit Bundle! This bundle contains 15 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient Greece! We’ve had great success with these resources, and our students had a blast!
As of 2024, we now have all of our Ancient Civilizations unit bundles available on our own website, which you can check out here. We believe the organization to be even better than how you can receive the files on TPT, and it also helps if your school district blocks Google Drive files from TPT!
Looking for ideas and inspiration when planning your Ancient Greece unit? If so, this free Ancient Greece resource guide can help! It showcases each of our Ancient Greece resources to help you decide which options will be best for your students. For more details about how we put fit these resources together and how long we spend on each activity, you can also download our free Ancient Greece unit plan!
If you liked this list of 22 Ancient Greece Activities for Middle School, consider watching the corresponding video here!
Are you looking for some new teaching ideas to engage your students in your social studies class? If so, you’ll love our FREE guide: 5 Creative Projects to Ignite Student Engagement in Your Social Studies Class. These activities have both printable and digital options and can work for any social studies subject!
