Teacher guide · Curious Lab · Medium · about 35 min

🏺 Stone Age Survival Camp

Pupils practise curiosity through "Stone Age Survival Camp": Explore tools and the change to farming.

Lesson guide

  1. 1. Hook · 5 min

    Show the 🏺 mission title and read the opening: "Many early Stone Age people got food by…". Take three quick guesses.

  2. 2. Model · 5 min

    Think aloud through the first step together. Use Sniff the Beagle's line as your prompt: "Great question! Ready to dig one layer deeper? Pick your next mission below."

  3. 3. Do · 10 min

    Pairs work through the 5 steps on screen or on the printed sheet. Circulate and ask "why?"

  4. 4. Discuss · 10 min

    Use two or three of the discussion questions. Ask pairs to share different answers, not just correct ones.

  5. 5. Reflect · 5 min

    Exit ticket: one sentence on how they used curiosity today.

Discussion questions

  • What was the hardest choice in "Stone Age Survival Camp", and why?
  • Many early Stone Age people got food by… — explain your reasoning to a partner.
  • What changed when farming spread — explain your reasoning to a partner.
  • What can an archaeologist learn from a stone tool — explain your reasoning to a partner.
  • Where could you use curiosity outside school this week?
  • If you did this again, what would you change?

Adapting it

Support: Read prompts aloud, pair with a confident partner, and accept spoken or drawn answers for writing steps.

Stretch: Ask pupils to create their own extra step for a partner and explain the correct answer.

Curriculum links

  • National Curriculum: History: chronology, sources and significant people and events
  • National Curriculum: Science: working scientifically — asking questions and observing
  • National Curriculum: Geography/History: enquiry and using sources
  • PSHE: Living in the wider world: media literacy and checking information

Pupil sheet

🏺 Stone Age Survival Camp

Name: ____________________   Date: __________

  1. 1. Many early Stone Age people got food by…

    ☐ Hunting and gathering

    ☐ Ordering deliveries

    ☐ Shopping in supermarkets

  2. 2. What changed when farming spread?

    ☐ Everyone stopped needing food

    ☐ People could grow crops and keep animals

    ☐ Stone disappeared

  3. 3. What can an archaeologist learn from a stone tool?

    ☐ How people might have worked

    ☐ The owner’s exact name every time

    ☐ Tomorrow’s weather

  4. 4. Connect the clues to their meanings.

    Flint → ________________

    Archaeologist → ________________

    Crop → ________________

  5. 5. Plan a Stone Age camp with food, shelter and tools. Explain which evidence inspired your choices.