History Cake

Source: 

Grampian National Nature Reserves - Teaching Activities (SNH)

Time

60 minutes or more

You will need

• Basic map of the reserve or area you are visiting
• See-through overlays, such as tracing paper or OHP paper
• OHP pens
• Clipboard

Did you know?

Many nature reserves are also places of great historical significance, due to landscape, archaeology and the biological resources exploited there by people in the past. Some National Nature Reserves will have staff who can help you with this activity, such as the Grampian reserves at Dinnet, St Cyrus and the Sands of Forvie.

Before the Activity

• Try the activity Earth's Evolution Timeline in the Landscape section
• Tell the class a little about the places you are going to visit and the things you will be likely to see.

The activity

• Give each child/pair/small group a map and a number of see-through overlays, each with an important time in history written on it (number of overlays will depend on your class and the information you have available for the site for each period in history).  
• Cover the blank background map with the dated see-through overlays 
• During the walk explain how the area would have looked during history and describe some of the characters and the jobs people would have had then.
• Get the children to mark on the important features and uses, putting different features onto the different layers, until the present day
• Gather the group together at the end of the walk and look back through the layers of the map, like the layers of a cake. See what the children have remembered about their day, as they look back through the maps.
  

Suggested Follow up

Try making a timeline in the school grounds, including events you found out about on the reserve visit, as well as local history. See the activity Timelines in the School Grounds section

Additional Information

Taynish Timeline (3 pages)

Curriculum Links

• Science - main
• Social studies - main
  

Age Range

• 2. Primary
• 3. Lower Secondary