The Stone Age for Kids

by TerriRexson

Resources for learning about the Stone Age for kids. Fun facts, videos to watch, books to read, role play toys and lots more.

As I write this my 5 year old son is fascinated by the Stone Age and the Last Ice Age.

I've put together a selection of the top Stone Age facts that have fascinated him like super-sized Stone Age animals. And lots of resources that we have enjoyed learning from.

You'll find funny videos about the Stone Age, Stone Age themed activities, Stone age role-play toys and books and DVDs to learn even more from.

This page should be useful if you are homeschooling, teaching young kids about the Stone Age, or following up your child's interest in cavemen and prehistoric life.

Stone Age Kids

My Boys Dress Up at the Salisbury Museum Stone Age Exhibition
My Boys Dress Up at the Salisbury Mus...

What was the Stone Age?

The Stone Age was the period of time when people made and used stone tools and before they began working with metal. The Stone Age is part of prehistory because it is before we have any written records.

The Stone Age period includes our early ancestors through to modern Homo Sapiens (our species.) During this time the Neaderthal people also lived. 

People ate nuts and berries and hunted animals for meat and skins. They lived in caves or shelters made from animal bones and skins. 

We were lucky enough to find a Stone Age exhibition at a local museum. It's worth looking to see if any museums local to you cover the Stone Age. The boys loved all the hands on exhibits and information about the Stone Age. And dressing up as a stone age boy and hyena too!

Horrible Histories Stone Age Song

When Was the Stone Age?

The Stone Age refers to a long period of time from around 2.5 million years ago until around 5000 years ago. There isn't an exact date range. 

The Stone Age refers to a long period of time which gets divided up into:

  • Paleolithic
  • Mesolithic
  • Neolithic

Play the video for a funny overview of the Stone Age in song.  

 

Fun Stone Age Facts for Kids

  1. Despite what many toy manufacturers seem to think, there were no dinosaurs in the Stone Age. Dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago. 
  2. Nearly all of human history was in the Stone Age. A couple of million years of it. Only in the last 5000 years have we progressed beyond Stone Age technology. 
  3. Mammoths and Saber-toothed Cats did live at the same time as Stone Age people. And Cave Bears. 
  4. We often talk about The Ice Age meaning the last ice age which took place towards the end of the Stone Age. 
  5. The people of North Sentinel Island in Asia are isolated and still live a Stone Age lifestyle today. 
  6. Lots of animals were much bigger than their modern counterparts: Mammoths (that's how they got their name!), Saber-toothed Cats and Cave Bears were all really big. 
  7. At the beginning of the Stone Age people didn't know how to make fire but made use of naturally occurring fires after lightning strikes. 
  8. It wasn't just adults who created cave art, children made cave paintings too. 

Fun Stone Age Videos for Kids

These videos made my son laugh out loud. Very funny and packed with facts too. 

A Day in the Life Of A 10-Year-Old in Ancient Britain

Horrible Histories Stone Age Report

These short videos are a fun way for kids to learn a bit about stone age facts. They use humor that will appeal to small kids (verified :-)

Through the Horrible Histories clip we discovered the wonderful Horrible Histories series from the BBC. 

In the UK you can buy a Horrible Histories DVD set which covers the Stone Age and the rest of history too. You can get Horrible Histories in the US, but you'll need to be able to play non-US DVDs. 

Horrible Histories Savage Stone Age DVD

Horrible Histories - Savage Stone Age
$16.3  $9.98

Stone Age Cave Painting

Cave Art

Cave painting is one of the things we most associate with Stone Age. The cave paintings at Lascaux in France were discovered by four schoolboys in 1940. A reproduction of the caves has been created next door so you can visit, but the original paintings are protected from further deterioration. 

Cave paintings show that Stone Age people had culture. Cave paintings have been found around the world. 

We watched this video of the recreated cave paintings at Lascaux and then my son created his own artwork in the same styles. Pastels work really well for this. 

We were very interested to find that archaeologists think that children made cave paintings as well as adults. 

Prehistoric Cave Paintings

Mammoth Cave Painting

By a Modern Child, Age 5
Mammoth Cave Painting
Mammoth Cave Painting

Stone Age Children's Cave Paintings
There is archaeological evidence that young children made cave paintings, just like kids today love to create artwork.

Stone Age Animals

Stone Age Animals

Stone Age creatures included huge animals Woolly Mammoths, Saber-toothed cats including Smilodon, lions, mega bears (cave bears) and hyenas. These animals had been around since before the stone age and lived alongside stone age people when they came along.

There were also lots of smaller animals including smaller mammals, birds and a variety of reptiles and insects. Lots of sea-creatures too. 

But it's the big land mammals that are most associated with the stone age. 

My son loved this video which shows dead Mammoth being fought over by a stone age lion, wolves and a cave bear!

Prehistoric Mega Animals

Plush Stone Age Animals

We came home from our museum visit with some cute mini-versions of Stone Age animals. My older son is a fan of carnivores, whatever the era, and chose a Smilodon, a kind of saber-toothed cat. 

My younger son is interested in mammoths (we're reading the Littlenose books) and choose a very cute mammoth which he has called two-eyes (you'll have to read about Littlenose to find out why.)

Stone Age Playmobil

It was the arrival of the new Playmobil that renewed my son's interest in the Stone Age. They've got a brilliant new range of Playmobil that features cave people and stone age animals including Mammoths and Saber-tooth cats. We've got the sabre-tooth cat set is it has been played with continually since it arrived. The cats are very cool - the saber-teeth look suitably scary and you can put bones in their mouths. 

Playmobil Stone Age with Mammoths and Saber-Tooth Cats

Playmobil Stone Age Cave with Mammoth...
Only $169.97
Playmobil Sabre Toothed Cat with Cavemen
Only $89.95

Neanderthals and Our Ancestors

As well as our own ancestors, another species of people lived and became extinct during the stone age: The Neanderthals. 

Neanderthal's were adapted to cold weather in the Ice Age. They had big noses to warm the air. Neanderthal's had a stock robust build, they were quite tall and very hairy. 

Neanderthals were quite intelligent but didn't survive until modern times. Neanderthal's became extinct around 30,000 years ago. 

We are not evolved from Neanderthals, but through a separate line of people that evolved throughout the stone age. 

Our current species Homo sapiens first appeared around 200,000 years ago and became fully modern about 50,000 years ago. 

This means that people like modern humans lived alongside Neanderthal's. It may have been our ancestors that caused the extinction of the Neanderthal's by our better adaptation for survival. 

Neanderthal vs Woolly Rhino

Evolution - from ape man to neanderthal

Stone Age Documentaries

We love the BBC 'Walking with ...' documentaries and our kids have been watching them since they were tiny. 

The presentation of lots of interesting facts along with amazing recreations of prehistoric scenes works really well. 

The box set is usually best value and includes Walking with Cavemen and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (this included a lot of animals that were around during the Stone Age.)

Books about the Stone Age for Kids

A Stone Age Fact Book

We chose the Best Book of Early People as a kids book to learn about the Stone Age. 

My five year old son has been poring over it since it arrived. It has a series of double page picture spreads featuring scenes from the Stone Age (plus a little bit on the Bronze Age and Iron Age.)

It also has lots of factual snippets to accompany the pictures. 

Best Book of Early People

Stone Age Facts Book for Kids
The Best Book of Early People (Best Books of)
$11.72  $9.56

Savage Stone Age

The Savage Stone Age is one of Terry Deary's awesome Horrible Histories books. It's packed with facts presenting in a way that kids, boys particularly will find very appealing. 

It's silly and gruesome. The book has 128 pages and it's a great book for kids who are confidently reading by themselves. 

Stone Age Storybooks

We are loving John Grant's Stone Age series of books featuring Littlenose the Neanderthal who lives in the stone age. 

These are fictional books which each include several short stories about Littlenose. They are packed with information about the Stone Age era (though liberties are definitely taken for the sake of a good story!)

The Littlenose books are perfect chapter books for kids to read themselves or for parents to read to younger children. I'm reading them to my 5 and nearly 4 year old and they love them. 

Littlenose the Hero

Stone Age Story Book
Littlenose the Hero
Only $3.64

Stone Age Fun for Kids

Free Online Playmobil Stone Age Comic
A fun comic book story featuring the characters in the Playmobil Stone Age sets. You can view it online or download as a pdf.

Cave Art Coloring Book
Coloring pages featuring Stone Age cave paintings.

Stone Age Sam Game
Fun point and click adventure game set in the Stone Age.

Further Information on The Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used in the manufacture of implements with a sharp edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 2.5 million years, and ended between 4500 BC t...
Updated: 05/14/2012, TerriRexson
 
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evelynsaenz on 11/10/2020

Cute costumes and great facts. I just added a link to the resourses on my Stone Age Unit Study on Pinterest.

Nathan on 09/20/2017

heyyyy

iudh on 09/20/2017

mr.trey was here

Veronica on 01/16/2016

This is very interesting because my workshop company " Yellow Brick Road Workshops " does Stone Age to Iron Age workshops for KS1 and KS2. The children love this topic when we go into schools.

Ty for posting.

miggy on 01/16/2016

thanx good recorces

boby on 08/01/2015

goody goody

Seelyon on 06/20/2015

Lots of great Stone Age resources!

leah on 05/12/2015

i don't know it's to much for kids to read

Aseni Amarandi Gamage on 11/08/2014

Why does the neanderthal get hurt by the woolly rhino. I thought you said they were smart ,so he should have made a plan to escape. RIGHT!

nico on 10/14/2014

yes it was lovely and helpful


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