Prehistoric Experiences @HerdFarm (before Covid)

Experience what day-to-day life was like in Prehistoric times.

Forest School Plus, in collaboration with Herd Farm Activity Centre, offers a day of outdoor activities to support Key Stage 2 learning about the changes from Stone Age to Iron Age.

The sessions are led by Tina Roberts, a qualified teacher and Forest School leader, and Ian Roberts a professional archaeologist.

The prehistoric activities at Herd Farm utilise a mesolithic camp and a reconstructed Iron Age farmstead, comprising three authentic full-sized replica roundhouses within a ditched enclosure, set in the rolling rural setting of north Leeds. This exciting setting is conducive to understanding and appreciating the challenges of prehistoric life and the skills and ingenuity that were required to survive over 2,000 years ago.

You and your pupils will spend a day at Herd Farm and find out how our ancestors lived. By the end of the day pupils and accompanying adults will have dressed as prehistoric villagers and taken part in exciting dynamic activities that reflect day to day life in the prehistoric times.

The day will be spent outside so pupils and accompanying adults will need to be prepared for the weather. 

A typical day could include:

• Welcome to Herd Farm and introduction to Tina and Ian

• A walk through time to the Iron Age to look at materials and resources available to aid survivial in prehistoric times

• A tour of the Iron Age village and finding out about; roundhouse construction, life in a roundhouse and Iron Age crafts

• Lunch outside around the fire circle

• Finding out about Iron Age clothes dressing as warriors and being face painted

• Warrior training

• Village bonding - lighting a fire at the end of the day and share highlights

Activities on the day vary according to the length of the visit, questions posed by pupils, weather, season and resource availability. In response to requests from teachers we have developed several different experiences:

• The original Iron Age Experience - centred round the village Iron Age Village with craft demonstrations and activities
• The Stone Age Experience - Find out about changes through the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, make a mesolithic shelter, see the change in tool technology over time, become a hunter, findout about prehistoric firelighting
• The Prehistroic Walkthrough Time - This includes the chronology from The Stone Age to the Iron Age and elements of the Stone Age (shelter building) and Iron Age (warrior training) Experiences
• The Stone Age to Iron Age Craft Experience - This covers the full chronology with a focus on crafts including willow weaving instead of shelter building.
• The Romans are coming! - It's 70AD in Brigantia, should the tribe fight the Romans or try to make peace? Explore the story of local Queen Cartamandua, find out about Roman Soldiers, visit a Celt village and experience life from the view point of a Roman soldier and Brigante warrior.