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!

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!

Ancient China Activities

Ancient China Lesson Plan 

If you are an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some activity ideas for Ancient China, you are in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid Ancient China Activities and resources to help you have a successful Ancient China 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 China unit.

Ancient China Activities for Middle School

Introductory Vocabulary Activities

Like all of our units, we like to start off with vocabulary-based activities, as they’re a great practice tool for students. These vocabulary activities for Google Drive are fun ways for students to work on Ancient China vocabulary words in a variety of ways. They range from matching, fill-in-the-blank, synonyms and antonyms, quizlet links, everything you would need for vocabulary!

Ancient China Word Wall

Along with our vocab activities, we always find that word walls are a great vocabulary tool! Our resource includes 22 Ancient China vocab words ready to print and display on a bulletin board. And because images are included on every card, they’re also helpful for your visual learners! Even better, an editable Google Slideshow is included with all words and images, so you can edit definitions as needed!

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 China Unit Introduction

One thing we try to do is make our lessons relevant to students, so connecting present-day China to Ancient China 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 China, and when we shift back to ancient times, that prior knowledge makes it easier.

Ancient China 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 China 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 China unit while also building helpful skills! Topics covered in this resource include geography, Confucianism, the Silk Road, and more!

Ancient China 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 China Slideshow for Google Slides, teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient China! This 45-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient China, including geography, Han Dynasties, Daoism, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!

Ancient China Geography Activity for Google Slides

When it comes to geography and China being so diverse, we want to help students visualize the different landscapes better. This postcard activity allows students to create digital postcards that include information on different landscapes and further research specific sites. We’ve also found that some students don’t know how to write or address postcards, so this activity slips in a little life skill as well!

Chinese Philosophies

A China unit isn’t complete without discussing the Chinese Philosophies of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. With that, we have a couple of different options. The first one is from SHEG, as they’ve created a wonderful free resource comparing Confucianism and Daoism. The goal with this is trying to determine what the most ideal type of government is between them. The second option is our philosophies debate, which covers not only Confucianism and Daoism, but Legalism as well. With this debate, students learn key information of each philosophy and apply the teachings by creating school rules around them. Once those are decided, students then debate which one is the best approach to govern a school.

Chinese Philosophy Jigsaw Activity

Looking for more ways to teach about Chinese Philosophies? This Chinese Philosophies reading activity is a great way to teach your students about Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. This resource includes printable and digital reading passages about each of the philosophies (2 pages each). There is also a graphic organizer students can use to record important beliefs and key details for each philosophy! Each of the three reading passages explains the founder, major beliefs, and legacy of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. There are also some significant quotes from Confucius, Laozi, Shang Yang, and Han Feizi that students can analyze.

Chinese Zodiac + Lunar New Year Activity

Need a resource that helps connect Chinese history with the holiday of Lunar New Year? If so, this Chinese Zodiac and Lunar New Year Activity is exactly what you need! This resource can be incorporated as part of your Ancient China unit or simply an activity for Lunar New Year. Students will read about the history of the Chinese zodiac and how it connects to the holiday in a 2-page reading passage. When finished, they’ll learn about the 12 animals (and their corresponding personality traits) and complete an activity.

TED-Ed Silk Road Video

Another important topic in an Ancient China unit is the Silk Road. We’ve found a great starting point using TED-Ed’s YouTube video on the subject. Their videos have great animations, make content very digestible, and it’s no different with their introduction to the Silk Road. You can use this as an intro to your students and have discussion afterwards, or make it an assignment for comprehension.

Silk Road Game-Based Simulation

One of our absolute favorite resources we’ve ever created is the Silk Road Simulation. With this simulation, students have the chance to travel on the Silk Road going through key destinations. There are 5 rounds in total, each with different goods available depending on where they choose to go. It helps with geography, understanding trade, and there are trivia questions to test comprehension. Students will be able to see exactly what was traded and get a glimpse into what traveling the Silk Road was like. Chance elements are also involved to showcase both good and bad experiences that were possible while traveling. 

Plan Out a Road Trip along the Silk Road

If you’re not up for a full-scale simulation, we’ve also created a Silk Road Road Trip Project. It gives students a visual on the distance of the Silk Road and the cultural elements surrounding different destinations. The project is something that students can complete individually and features student choice and problem-solving skills. It’s also a great tool to briefly discuss how to plan a road trip!

Ancient China Timeline Activity

If you’re looking to make your Ancient China Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient China 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 Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty, Warring States Period, Qin Dynasty, and Han Dynasty. 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!

China and Rome Inquiry Activity

While we have not used any of their lessons fully, C3Teachers  has a free resource on the Silk Road. It’s an inquiry assignment asking if Chinese and Roman travelers knew about each other in the context of the Silk Road. Students will read a variety of resources to figure out why and answer some other corresponding questions. 

Great Wall of China: Did the Benefits Outweigh the Costs?

Getting into the Great Wall of China, there’s a DBQ from the DBQ Project that we’ve used regularly in our Ancient China unit. It asks if the benefits outweighed the costs of the Great Wall of China. This DBQ can be a really helpful exercise for students to think about the pros and cons of the Wall. If it is something your district would consider purchasing, we recommend it. 

Great Wall of China Activities and Reading Passage

If you’re looking for something a bit shorter, we have created a Great Wall of China reading passage and graphic organizer activity. It’s great for reading comprehension, and leaves an element of mystery for students while they figure out the graphic organizer. It’s also a fun tool for students to gain some background knowledge as well! With that, we also highly encourage you to find different YouTube videos on the Great Wall of China to give your students a real-life look of what it is. 

Ancient China Job Fair

A project we’ve brought up in other Ancient Civilizations, our Job Fair Project is a great chance to combine different people from ancient times and job skills that students often don’t get. Our Job Fair for Ancient China includes resumes for Confucius, Qin Shi Huangdi, Emperor Wu of Han, and Empress Wu Zetian. After students analyze each resume, they decide who would be hired for various jobs. They not only gain critical analysis skills, but also get to see the perspective of hiring and how resumes are set up!

Ancient China Early Finisher Activity or Emergency Sub Plan

We always like to have an easy, printable activity sheet students can do whether it’s used as an emergency sub plan or an early finisher activity. With this specific resource there is a timeline activity surrounding the Chinese Dynasties and a word search containing some Ancient China vocabulary. It’s nice to have this in your back pocket if something comes up or if a student finishes an assignment much faster than anticipated.

Legacy of Ancient China

Help your students understand the impact and legacy of ancient China with this printable and digital activity! This no-prep resource includes a detailed Google Slideshow that covers 12 different innovations of ancient China and an analysis activity. To use this resource, present the slideshow to your students. Then, they will work on the corresponding graphic organizer. On the graphic organizer, students will summarize how these innovations were used and identify how they’ve affected our lives today.

Ancient China Printable Bookmarks

These printable Ancient China Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient China unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient China. 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 China Test + Study Guide

At the end of your unit, you can assess your students using this Ancient China Test and Study Guide. The test is perfectly aligned to the other resources mentioned in this activity guide, 100% editable and available in 2 different formats: Google Forms (self-grading) and Google Docs. The day before the test, have a review day with the provided study guide, and then give the exam in whichever format works best for you!

Ancient China Daily Agenda Slides

Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient China Unit? These Ancient China 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 China in the background, as well as Ancient China clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!

Never used agenda slides, or looking for more options? Check out our recent blog post for more info on daily agenda slides!

Ancient China Unit Plan

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 China activities, you’ll love our Ancient China Unit Bundle! This bundle contains 20 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient China! 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 China unit? If so, this free Ancient China resource guide can help! It showcases each of our Ancient China 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 China unit plan!

If you liked this list of 13 Ancient China 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!

Ancient India Activities 

Ancient India Lesson Plans

If you’re an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some Ancient India activities for your unit, you’re in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid resources to help you have a successful Ancient India 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 India unit.

Ancient India Activities for Middle School

Introductory Vocabulary Activities

Just like all of our units, we start them off with vocabulary-based activities. These vocabulary activities for Google Drive are fun ways for students to practice the Ancient India vocabulary words in a variety of ways. They range from matching, fill-in-the-blank, synonyms and antonyms, quizlet links, everything you would need for vocabulary! 

Ancient India Word Wall 

Along with our vocab activities, we always find that word walls are a great vocabulary tool! This resource includes 24 Ancient India vocab words ready to print and display on a bulletin board. And because images are included on every card, they’re also helpful for your visual learners! Even better, an editable Google Slideshow is included with all words and images, so you can edit the definitions as needed!

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 India Inquiry Activity

Once we complete vocabulary, we like to incorporate inquiry in our unit to help students build analyzing skills. This image analysis and prediction activity gives students the chance to observe a selection of 8 images that pertain to the geography and history of Ancient India. Students not only have to describe what they see but also make predictions about the image’s significance. We like this activity because you can use it for any ancient civilization unit!

Introductory Research Activity

If you’re looking for a simple and no-prep research activity, this resource helps provide context about Ancient India by connecting it to present-day India. It also helps peak student’s curiosity about things they’ll learn throughout the unit. The resource goes through topics such as geography, language, population, and more! 

Monsoon Videos

One critical part of understanding India is the monsoons and how they affect life in India both past and present. There’s no shortage of videos on monsoons, but one video we like to use gives a general overview of monsoons. Another video we’ve found was uploaded in July of 2020, regarding how the Indian population has had to combat monsoons while experiencing Covid-19. It’s a great way to discuss how geographical weather has its benefits but also its drawbacks and consequences.

Ancient India Mapping Activity

After discussing monsoons, it’s a good time to transition into geography. Instead of having students label a traditional paper map, this activity has students create a visual map of important landmarks. In addition to labeling the locations from the slide, students find and include a photograph of each landmark on their map. This allows students to better visualize what these places look like and offers more relevance than just labeling a paper map. 

Ancient India 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 India 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 India unit while also building helpful skills!

Ancient India Daily Agenda Slides

Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient India Unit? These Ancient India Daily Agenda Slides Templates will help you save time and better immerse your students in the unit! These 22 slides for Google Drive are editable and each template features an Ancient India-themed photograph, as well as clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!

If you haven’t ever used agenda slides, check out our recent blog post for more details on daily agenda slides!

Ancient India 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 India Slideshow for Google Slides, teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient India! This 47-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient India, including geography, Hinduism, the Gupta Empire, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!

History 101: Mohenjo-Daro Video

For more geography activities, there’s a great video from National Geographic that gives an overview of Mohenjo-Daro and what it’s about. It gets into the layout, when it existed, and what mysteriously happened to them and why they might’ve disappeared. 

Explore Mohenjo-Daro

For more activities on Mohenjo-Daro, we’ve found a website from the British Museum that goes over the subject really well. This website is a little old-school, but it does provide students a chance to click around a bit and explore some different artifacts that were found at Mohenjo-Daro. It’s also a great primary source for students to use. 

Ancient India Early Finisher Activity or Emergency Sub Plan

To help build upon Mohenjo-Daro, we’ve got an early finisher activity that combines elements of Mohenjo-Daro with urban planning. We usually like to have these kinds of activities as a little extra project during the unit, but it’s perfect to finish up your Mohenjo-Daro discussion! Students have to build their own Mohenjo-Daro while sticking to a budget, guidelines, and specific resources. It’s a fun, low maintenance activity that can wrap up discussion and understand the process of urban planning and budgeting. 

Caste System Reading and Activity

Building off of the previous activity, we also have the Caste System vs. American Society resource. It’s a reading diving into what the Caste System is about and comparing life in India to the United States. It compares how in Ancient India, regardless of your qualifications, you would be stuck in the Caste you were born in, and the inequalities of opportunities in American society today. It helps get across these difficult, sometimes abstract concepts to students. 

Ancient India Timeline Activity

If you’re looking to make your Ancient India Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient India 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 Indus Valley Civilization, Vedic Period, Mauryan Empire, and the Gupta 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!

Overview of Hinduism and Buddhism

Another topic you can’t forget about when teaching Ancient India is addressing two of our five major world religions. Hinduism and Buddhism both originated in India, and like discussing any religion, just be conscious of how you present information. Hinduism can be difficult for students to understand, but we’ve found a video that does a great job presenting it. There’s another video that’s great for Buddhism, discussing the story of Buddha and what the religion is about. 

Hinduism and Buddhism ABC Slideshow

An activity that students can do with the information from the videos is this Google Slideshow activity. It’s a great in-class activity for students to work through a variety of vocabulary words and topics within Hinduism and Buddhism. Students have to find the definition of each word and which religion they belong to. This allows them to organize their thoughts in a way that helps them better understand the material. 

Ancient India Job Fair 

When discussing the major leaders of Ancient India, a fun way we’ve presented it is through a job fair activity. In this activity, students are given resumes of different leaders, and they decide who to hire for specific jobs. We love this activity because students get the opportunity to have some career practice from the evaluator’s perspective. We love this activity, as it can work with other ancient civilizations as well!

Ancient India Test + Study Guide

At the end of your unit, you can assess your students using this Ancient India Test and Study Guide. The test is perfectly aligned to the other resources mentioned in this activity guide, 100% editable and available in 2 different formats: Google Forms (self-grading) and Google Docs. The day before the test, have a review day with the provided study guide, and then give the exam in whichever format works best for you!

Ancient India Newscast Project

For a great assessment assignment, we like to use a newscast project at the end of the unit. In this activity, students take on roles connecting to one component of Ancient India or the unit. Then as a class, they put together a complete news broadcast with a variety of different segments! It’s a nice way to sum everything up that students have learned throughout the unit. So while it starts out as an individual project, it comes together wonderfully as a class project during the presentation!

Ancient India Printable Bookmarks

These printable Ancient India Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient India unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient India. 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 India Unit Plan

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 India activities, you’ll love our Ancient India Unit Bundle! This bundle contains 17 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient India! 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 India unit? If so, this free Ancient India resource guide can help! It showcases each of our Ancient India resources to help you decide which options will be best for your students. For more details about how we fit these resources together and how long we spend on each activity, you can also download our free Ancient India unit plan!

If you liked this list of 16 Ancient India 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!

Ancient Egypt Activities

Ancient Egypt Lesson Plans 

If you are an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some ideas for Ancient Egypt, you’re in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid resources to help you have a successful Ancient Egypt unit. The following Ancient Egypt activities listed below are part of our personal unit plan. We want to help you succeed, whether you use these as an outline or to help supplement your existing unit!

Ancient Egypt Activities for Middle School

Introductory Vocabulary Activities

We like to start our units with different vocab activities and give students multiple opportunities to practice and learn them. That being said, in the age of distance and online learning, we’ve put together multiple digital activities for Google Drive. These vocabulary activities for Google Drive are fun ways for students to practice the Ancient Egypt vocabulary words in a variety of ways, such as with Quizlet, self-grading Google Forms, and more! 

Ancient Egypt Word Wall

With our vocab activities, we find that word walls are a great vocabulary tool! We have a resource that includes 22 Ancient Egypt vocabulary words ready to print and display on a bulletin board. They’re also helpful for your visual learners, as pictures or images are included on each card! Even better, there’s a 100% editable Google Slideshow included with all of the words and images!

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 Egypt Slideshow + Notes 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 Egypt Slideshow for Google Slides, teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient Egypt! This 47-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient Egypt, including geography, pharaohs, hieroglyphics, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!

Ancient Egypt Unit Introductory Activity

Another way to start off your Ancient Egypt unit is with this activity. This is a simple and no-prep research activity that connects Ancient Egypt’s past to modern times. It guides students through some country research about modern-day Egypt to make the unit more relevant to them and help pique their curiosity about things they will learn during your unit. For your convenience, both digital and PDF versions are provided! 

Ancient Egypt 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 Egypt 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 Egypt unit while also building helpful skills! Topics covered in this resource include mummification, hieroglyphics, the Great Pyramid, and more!

Ancient Egypt Timeline

If you’re looking to make your Ancient Egypt Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient Egypt 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 Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and the capital cities of Kerma, Napata, and Meroë from Kush. 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!

Nile River Simulation

The Nile River is a major topic in any Ancient Egypt unit, and this no-prep, game-based Nile River Simulation will be a highlight! In this activity, students will choose where to live along the Nile River, farm, trade goods, and learn about geography. This simulation features six different rounds of competition. Each round, students must make decisions and roll the dice to see what they might’ve experienced living along the Nile. Simulations can be fun and meaningful activities but often take lots of work and preparation, which is why we did it for you! No need to set-up anything for this simulation, simply present the slideshow and share the handout with students.

Ancient Egypt 101 from National Geographic

We like to show as many videos as we can just to bring the content to life for the students. One that we’re very fond of is from National Geographic, as they have a History 101 video for Ancient Egypt. It’s about 4-5 minutes, and gives a nice overview of introductory subjects for the unit. It’s quick, it has great animations, and it keeps students engaged! You can view the YouTube video here.

How did the Nile River shape Ancient Egypt? DBQ

The sources included are all about answering how the Nile shaped Ancient Egypt. This DBQ contains resources such as the hymn to the Nile, recreated maps, and photos students have to analyze. It’s perfect for primary and secondary source analysis, and comparing sources. The official link is here if this is something your district would consider purchasing. However, we did find several PDF versions available that some teachers had uploaded, although this technically breaks the DBQ project’s policies.

Egyptian Mythology Instagram Activity

This Egyptian Mythology activity is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the Egyptian gods and goddesses in a creative way! In this activity, students create a selection of Instagram-styled posts for five of the gods/goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Each post includes an image, caption, and relevant hashtags that help explain who that god or goddess is. Please note that this resource does not teach students about Egyptian mythology. Rather, it is a great activity to help students practice or review the information they have learned about Egyptian Mythology.

However, if you are looking for a resource to use to teach your students about Egyptian mythology, check out the slideshow activity below!

Egyptian Mythology Overview

If you need to teach your students about who’s who in Egyptian Mythology, this Intro to Egyptian Mythology can help! This digital resource includes a Google Slideshow featuring 16 of the different gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Following the slideshow, an editable graphic organizer for Google Docs and some printable flashcards will help students review! Gods and goddesses part of the slideshow include Ra, Amun, Ma’at, Thoth, Bastet, Sekhmet, Ptah, Hathor, Nut, and more!

 Egyptian Mythology Worksheet for Early Finishers

A fun, chill activity for an emergency sub plan or early finishers, this activity sheet is perfect while you’re teaching about Egyptian Mythology! Both fun and educational, this no-prep Egyptian Mythology worksheet contains two different activities: a creative matching challenge with clues and an Egyptian Mythology crossword puzzle! Simply make double-sided copies to have on hand whenever there’s extra time to fill.

Ancient Egypt Google Earth Field Trip

Students love using Google Earth, and this creative activity helps connect geography and architecture. This allows students to figure out which clue connects to which landmark or geographical site. It is also available as a printable or digital resource, so use whatever version works best for you. This resource is definitely a highlight of our unit!

Google Maps “Pyramids of Giza”

If you’re looking for something really quick, Google Maps has a resource that can be scrolled through. There’s not necessarily an activity that goes along with this, but it’s great for an overview or if there are a few minutes left in class. We’ve also used this as an early finisher activity that helps students visualize the Pyramids more. 

Great Pyramid Reading Passage + Activities

This no-prep Great Pyramid of Giza reading passage and activities is perfect for teaching about the Great Pyramid and other Egyptian pyramids! Students will read the passage about the Great Pyramid and how Egyptian pyramids evolved over time. Then they will complete two creative activities about what they learned. Activities include a reading comprehension puzzle and discussion prompt on whether or not the Great Pyramid was worth the cost.

BBC Great Pyramid VR Video

This resource from the BBC takes students into the Great Pyramid of Giza, and allows them to see the different chambers inside. It also provides a 360° panoramic view and captions that explain exactly what’s being shown. Again, this resource doesn’t have a built-in activity, but it does provide students with the most engaging virtual experience we can give.

The Giza Project

This resource from Harvard University is absolutely amazing with all the uses it can provide for an Ancient Egypt unit! Students can visit several locations, look at panoramic views , images, videos, and it can be an amazing tool to design projects. We only scratched the surface when we discovered this resource, so check it out and see what it can add to your unit!

Ancient Egypt Mummy Project

Is it really an Ancient Egypt Unit if you don’t talk about mummies?  The idea of this project is to have students actually present the mummification process. They go step-by-step and the presentation is extremely hands-on. Students enjoy it because they can make up their own backstories, add humor and props, and show off their creativity. We like to call it “Mummification on a Budget”. It’s an experience that students don’t tend to forget, and it livens up the unit. Now this project is more ideal in the classroom than virtually, but it’s still doable, and we have some digital components for you here.

How to Make a Mummy

Mummification is usually the highlight of the unit, just because students are so fascinated with it. This TED-Ed video goes over the major steps in the mummification process. It’s short and sweet at only 5 minutes, and has an Anubis character that brings some humor to the subject. 

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs 

To wrap up our mummy resources, we often show this movie about Ramses the Great and the discovery of his tomb. It’s also a great tool to reinforce what you’ve taught and bring in a new story at the same time. We like to have students watch this after they’ve completed their mummy projects, or right before a holiday break.

Pharaohs Job Fair 

Many districts these days are not providing enough necessary job-related skills in the classroom. We’ve created this resource to teach students about the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt in a different way, using their resumes! Students have to look over and analyze each resume and decide who to hire for specific positions. This activity helps students learn more about these leaders and career skills as they choose who to hire for different jobs. 

Pharaohs Research Project/Choice Project

Giving students choices is a great way to help them personalize their learning and connect their strengths to the content. In this project, students conduct research about a Pharaoh of their choice. Then they create either a 3-D tomb, a rap or song, a magazine, or a talk-show style interview. This resource is originally a group project but can definitely be modified for individual student projects. 

Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphics Decoding

A low-key but very fun challenge for students is to decode a variety of messages written in hieroglyphics. This resource has secret phrases students have to decipher, and helps them visualize what the hieroglyphics look like. This is a great last minute worksheet for students to work on if there’s extra time in class. 

Kingdom of Kush Gallery Walk

Looking for a meaningful way to teach your students about Kushite culture? This gallery walk about the Kingdom of Kush is exactly what you need! This activity highlights 12 artifacts and information that provides an overview of what is known about ancient Kush. With printable, digital, and editable options and an answer key, you have everything you need for a successful activity! A gallery walk can bring a museum experience into the classroom! It gets students up and out of their seats to observe historical images and read information about them. Students will complete a graphic organizer that has them describe each artifact and reflect on how they contribute to our understanding of the Kushites.

Leaders of Kush Slideshow

Need more engaging resources on the ancient civilization of Kush? This digital Kingdom of Kush resource on the impressive kings and queens of Kush is a must! Present a brief history of 7 different Kushite leaders using the editable Google Slideshow, including Kashta, Taharqa, Arkamani, and more! With the Awards Activity, students will evaluate and award leaders based on their accomplishments. They will explain their choices on their Google Doc, using categories similar to what one might find on an award show like the Grammys or Oscars.

Ancient Egypt Unit Test

Save yourself time at the end of your Ancient Egypt Unit with this Ancient Egypt Test and Study Guide! This ready-made test has printable and digital options, and all text is 100% editable. It includes a version for Ancient Egypt and Kush, as well as a version without the Kush questions. 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!

Ancient Egypt Daily Agenda Slides

Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient Egypt Unit? These Ancient Egypt 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 Egypt in the background, as well as Ancient Egypt clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!

Ancient Egypt Bookmarks

These printable Ancient Egypt Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient Egypt unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient Egypt. 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 Egypt Worksheet for Early Finishers

This final resource contains some games for students to work on, like vocab and crossword puzzles. This activity is not super substantial for the unit, but it’s perfect for students who finish classwork early. It can even work as an emergency sub plan to have on hand when needed!

Ancient Egypt for Middle School

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 Egypt activities, you’ll love our Ancient Egypt Unit Bundle! This bundle contains 23 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient Egypt! We’ve had great success with these resources, and our students always have 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 Egypt unit? If so, this free Ancient Egypt 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 Egypt unit plan!

If you liked this list of 16 Ancient Egypt 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!