Ancient Rome Activities
Ancient Rome Lesson Plan
If you are an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some ideas for Ancient Rome Activities, you are in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid resources to help you have a successful Ancient Rome 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 Rome unit.
Ancient Rome Activities for Middle School
Ancient Rome Introductory Vocabulary Activities
As with all of our Ancient Civilizations, we love to start the unit with foundational vocabulary skills. With that, one of our favorite ways to do this is through our Google Drive Vocabulary Activities. There are 8 different Ancient Rome vocabulary activities included, and they’re an easy thing to incorporate throughout your unit. They are perfect for when you’ve got extra time left in class, introducing a new topic, or as warm-up activities.
Ancient Rome Word Wall
We always find that word walls are a great tool in addition to our vocabulary activities. Our resource includes 24 Ancient Rome vocabulary words ready to print and display on your bulletin board. And 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!
Ancient Rome Unit Introduction
One thing we try to do is make our lessons relevant to students, so connecting present-day Italy to Ancient Rome 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 Italy, and when we shift back to ancient times, that prior knowledge makes it easier.
Ancient Rome 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 Rome Slideshow for Google Slides, teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient Rome! This 59-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient Rome, including the Roman Republic, Roman mythology, the rise of Christianity, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!
Ancient Rome 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 Rome 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 Rome unit while also building helpful skills! Topics covered in this resource include patricians and plebeians, the Roman Republic, Augustus, the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity, the fall of Rome, and more!
Ancient Rome Google Earth Field Trip
When it comes to geography, we’ve created a Google Earth Field Trip around Ancient Rome. Our students have loved using Google Earth in the past, and it really brings these locations to life. They get to visit different key sites of the Roman Empire and gain a better understanding of the geography. We’ve also included a puzzle element so students really retain what they’re learning.
What Did Ancient Rome Look Like?
We’ve discovered this really interesting animated YouTube video by New Historia that brings Ancient Rome to life. Overall it’s very well-made, and the 3D animations help students visualize Ancient Rome architecture and some geography. The same group also has similar videos for Ancient Greece and Egypt if that’s something you would be interested in.
Ancient Rome Timeline
If you’re looking to make your Ancient Rome Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient Rome 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 Roman Kingdom, Early Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic, Early Roman Empire (Pax Romana), and the Late Roman Empire. 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!
Ancient Rome Reader’s Theater
Rome’s society went through numerous changes throughout its history, and because of that we created something we hope would do it justice. We designed this Ancient Rome Reader’s Theater to help our students better understand the evolution of Ancient Rome. It covers the complete history of Rome in an engaging and humorous 19-page script and even includes a timeline activity. It includes topics such as the legend of Romulus and Remus, branches of government, the fall of Rome, and more.
The Legacy of Ancient Rome Google Slideshow and Activity
The one section we did not include in our Reader’s Theater was the Legacy of Ancient Rome. This slideshow and activity covers specifically the 12 different inventions that have influenced modern times. The activity has students analyze and make connections between Ancient Rome and modern society through those inventions. We like using this resource as it helps students recognize how our lives are still affected by the actions of the Romans today.
Roman Empire Archaeological Simulation
This no-prep, game-based Roman Empire Archaeological Simulation will be a highlight in your Ancient Rome unit! In this Roman Empire activity with printable and digital options, students will take on the role of archaeologists to look for artifacts in different locations from throughout the Roman Empire. This simulation features eight different rounds of competition, and in each round, students must make decisions about a certain topic or roll the dice to see what they might experience as an archaeologist who is investigating artifacts from the Roman Empire!
How Democratic Was the Roman Republic?
Another of our favorite free resources come from SHEG, as all of their resources are really high-quality. They have a very interesting resource that examines how democratic the Roman Republic was. It’s also a great resource to compare the Ancient Roman government to the US government today.
Roman Republic Government Slideshow + Activity
Are you looking for a thorough and organized resource and activity to help your students understand the three branches of government of the Roman Republic? Then this is the resource for you! Cover key details about the Roman Republic with an editable Google Slideshow and assess your students with a printable and digital activity!
Ancient Rome Job Fair
We’ve found a way to combine teaching about the key people of the Roman Empire with job skills using our Ancient Civilizations Job Fair Activity! For this specific unit, we include sample resumes for Cicero, Julius Caesar, Augustus, and Constantine. Students analyze each resume to decide who they would like to hire for various jobs. We love this activity as students are also able to gain some job experiences they wouldn’t normally get otherwise.
Ancient Rome Leaders Historical Baseball Cards
If you’re looking for more of a research activity or project, you might enjoy our Historical Baseball Cards Project. Students have a wider variety of Roman leaders to choose from, and it’s something they can work on independently. For each card, students include the leader’s name, an image, the dates that they ruled, their job title, three major accomplishments, and their legacy. Once students have completed their cards, you can even turn them into puzzle or guessing game if you wanted.
TED-Ed Colosseum Video
An Ancient Rome unit isn’t complete without discussing the Colosseum, as it’s one of the most iconic places in Rome. We’ve found a really cool TED-Ed video on the subject. It addresses how the Romans were able to have “sea” battles in the Colosseum, but also gives good background knowledge for students.
Colosseum Reading Passage and Graphic Organizer
We’ve come up with this reading passage and graphic organizer activity about the history and construction of the Colosseum. It helps students understand the specifics of the Colosseum and that what we know today is only a fraction of what it was. The organizer is actually in the shape of the Colosseum, and the activity is available with printable and digital options!
Pompeii Station Activity
Pompeii is such a fascinating topic for us that we created a Pompeii Stations Activity. It covers the history of Pompeii, geography, Mount Vesuvius, primary sources, and Pompeii’s future. The resource also includes some discussion questions that connect Pompeii to modern times. And with the activity having both printable and digital options, you have a few different ways to present it.
The Roman Empire and Christianity
While we do find this topic important, we don’t have much expertise or experience with it ourselves. However, we have found an excellent resource from SHEG on the subject. It discusses why the Romans were persecuting Christians at the time, so this could be a helpful option if you’re looking.
Ancient Rome Test
Save yourself time at the end of your Ancient Rome Unit with this Ancient Rome 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 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 Rome Study Guide for Google Docs!
Ancient Rome Agenda Slides
Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient Rome Unit? These Ancient Rome 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 Rome in the background, as well as Ancient Rome clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!
Ancient Rome Bulletin Board Kit
Connect your bulletin boards to your course content in just five minutes with this effortless, ready-to-print Ancient Rome Bulletin Board Kit! With this bulletin board kit, students have the opportunity to view artifacts used by those living in Rome 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 Rome Bookmarks
These printable Ancient Rome Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient Rome unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient Rome. 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, short early finisher activity, or can even help students save time when using their textbooks!
Ancient Rome Early Finisher Activity
A final easy, no-prep activity is one of our Early Finisher activities for Ancient Rome. It includes two different activities, one that focuses on Roman Numerals, and the other reviews vocabulary. This activity sheet is an additional worksheet to have on hand in emergencies or students need something extra to work on.
Teaching Ancient Rome
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 Rome activities, you’ll love our Ancient Rome Unit Bundle! This bundle contains 13 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient Rome! 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 Mesopotamia unit? If so, this free Ancient Rome resource guide can help! It showcases each of our Mesopotamia 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 Rome unit plan!
If you liked this list of 16 Ancient Rome 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!
