Journey Back to the Stone Age! A Fun Guide for Children!

Our Stone Age Discovery Learning Kit

Have you ever wondered what life was like thousands, even millions, of years ago? Let’s jump in our time machine and travel way back to a time when people didn’t have phones, electricity, or even metal tools. Welcome to the Stone Age a time of mammoths, cave paintings, and some seriously cool survival skills!

When Was the Stone Age?

The Stone Age started around 3.3 million years ago, which is when early humans first began using tools made of stone. It ended about 5,000 years ago, when metal tools were invented and people entered the Bronze Age.

The Stone Age is split into three parts:

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age): The longest part, when people lived as hunter gatherers and made simple stone tools.

Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age): A time of big change people started building huts and fishing as the ice melted.

Neolithic (New Stone Age): The farming age. People began growing crops, building villages, and making pottery.

At places like Stump Cross Caverns in Yorkshire, you can actually see some of the caves and ice age animal remains from this time.

The Ice Age: It Was Cold!

During much of the Stone Age, the Earth was in an Ice Age. In Britain, huge glaciers covered the land, making it very cold. But the early humans adapted. They wore animal skins to keep warm and built fires and shelters.

They also shared their environment with some massive animals like woolly mammoths, smilodons, bison, and even wolverines.

Hunting and Gathering: Life on the Move

Back then, people didn’t have supermarkets. Everything they ate, they had to hunt or gather themselves.

They hunted animals like deer, mammoths, and wild horses using stone-tipped spears and later bows and arrows.

They also foraged for nuts, berries, roots, and edible plants.

Every part of the animal was used, for food, tools, clothing, and shelter.

These people were very clever! They made different tools for different jobs, cutting, scraping, even sewing. Most were made of flint, a type of sharp stone.

Where Did They Live?

We often think Stone Age people just lived in caves, and yes, sometimes they did, especially in cold times. But they also built shelters from what they had around them.

Caves offered natural protection, especially during the Paleolithic.

In the Mesolithic, people started building huts using wood, animal hides, and straw.

By the Neolithic, they were building permanent homes from mud bricks and timber. Villages began to appear.

Myth Busting: Were Stone Age People Really That Primitive?

Myth: They were cavemen who grunted and had no culture.

Truth: Stone Age people were smart, creative, and resourceful!

They: Made beautiful cave paintings (some still exist today!)

Carved figurines and instruments

Worked as a community to build, hunt, and share knowledge

They didn’t just survive, they thrived for millions of years before modern civilisation began.

Wrapping It Up: Why the Stone Age Still Rocks

The Stone Age wasn’t just a time of survival, it was the beginning of everything we know today. People learned how to make tools, build homes, express themselves through art, and care for each other in close communities.

It might sound like ancient history and it is!, but it’s also the story of how humans became who we are.

Next time you're out in nature or visiting a museum, just think you’re walking the same Earth that Stone Age children once explored!

If you enjoyed this Stone Age journey, keep an eye out for our next post and follow us for Stone Age September! Lots coming including wolf taming, maybe a DIY cave painting tutorial or Stone Age jewellery

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