We hope you enjoy the free Children’s Quizzes and Activities about the Romans that we discovered in an archaeological excavation at a secret location somewhere along Watling Street. After careful removal and delicate cleaning they’re ready for display in a museum or – at the very least – at the bottom of this web page.
The Roman Empire has allegedly existed for over 2500 years and legend tells of how twin boys, called Romulus and Remus, were responsible for first creating the city of Rome which stood as the centre of the Roman Empire. Their ambitious and ruthless expansion plans brought them all the way here to Britain where the Celts had historically lived and ruled.
Not content with Gaul (aka France) the Romans turned their attention to Britain and it was in 55BC that General Julius Caesar set sail to confront (unsuccessfully) the Celts. It was around a hundred years later that Roman Emperor Claudius finally conquered the southern half of Britain, officially making it part of the amazing and now legendary Roman Empire. It was a bold move by Claudius but he was determined to prove that he was a strong leader to the many Roman officials who opposed him becoming Emperor. Around 40,000 soldiers landed in Britain in AD43 (along with some elephants!) and they were quick to take Colchester and capture the British tribal leaders who tried to resist the Roman invasion.
Travel back in time courtesy of BBC Bitesize for fun educational resources and history activities spanning important subjects like armies, road building, technology and leisure time. In each age group category (Primary Age 3 to 11, Secondary Age 11 to 16 and Age 16+) there’s plenty to learn including how and when Britain became part of the Roman Empire, the life stories of Emperor Claudius, Caesar and Queen Boudicca, the technology that the Romans brought to Britain and what their homes and towns looked like. One of the big questions is answered too i.e. did the Romans ever conquer Scotland? Along with kids’ quizzes there are free printable activities, colouring sheets and fact sheets (PDF format) on Roman Emperors, pottery and archaeology, shopping and Roman money … even advice on how to dress a Roman soldier for battle. There are plenty of video clips and pictures too to make history education fun and interesting.
Thank you National Museums Scotland for a fun ‘build a roman fort‘ app that is an interesting and interactive way to learn about the components of a Roman fort and why they were so important for their military campaigns. Using Flash Player you can drag and drop gate houses, barracks, fort walls, toilets, food stores, etc. and with each move learn a little about the building and its function. When the Roman fort is built you can investigate some typical artefacts including a latrine sponge (yuck!) and decide which building they belong to.
There are even more free Printable Roman Colouring Pictures at www.edupics.com who offer such historical images as an amphitheatre, ballista, soldiers, and everyday objects like goblets and clothes. Places include a church, garden and market place; there’s an image of a Roman ship to print out too. Styles vary from cartoon style figures for younger kids (KS1) through to more detailed images for KS2 and KS3. Many of the printables are in a ‘classical’ line style with high levels of detail that will allow many more uses than just colouring sheets.
The Roman Baths (in the city of Bath, UK) have a great website that tells the history of their famous baths that – to this day – are still supplied with natural hot water from thermal springs. If you get the chance to visit you can explore the Baths, tramp along genuine Roman pavements and even see what is left of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. From the homepage choose ‘Learn’ and then ‘Children’s Pages’ to explore their on-line Roman educational resources which includes ‘fun facts’, a Roman baths timeline which explains how the site developed over time, and examples of research work by other students.
DK (formerly known as Dorling Kindersley) have a colourful interactive Roman Empire timeline which KS1, KS2 and KS3 pupils can all benefit from in one way or another. You start off with a map showing how their territory expanded with key locations having clickable information boxes. There’s also The Colosseum to explore which allows you to explore ‘beneath The Colosseum’ and all the unpleasant things that entailed, Gladiators and the Roman people themselves. Afterwards take the multiple choice quiz about Romans.
Over at theschoolrun.com you’ll find a page of facts and figures to explore the history, characters and accomplishments of the Roman Empire. In particular we like the dozens of excellent links to other learning resources which have been thoroughly researched and provide many links to fun interactive games, printbale quizzes or learning tools. It’ll save you a lot of time if you are researching Kids’ learning resources on Romans and the Roman Empire.
“I came, I saw, I conquered” was famously said by Caesar when he reported back to Rome on a successful war campaign … although he’d have said “Veni, vidi, vici” in Latin. As we all know from our Latin lessons those three words are first person singular perfect indicative active forms of the Latin verbs meaning “to come”, “to see”, and “to conquer” i.e. venire, videre, and vincere. Did you know? … Julius Caesar was never an emperor by virtue of the fact that he ruled during a time when Rome was a republic. His more common title was ‘Dictator’ and was ultimately proclaimed ‘Dictator for Life’.