Social Studies Lesson Plans
Make a Village - a free learning activity, children create a play village. This project teaches kids about how villages and towns are arranged and how they grow. Fun and educational hands-on learning project. Free interactive learning software. Make a Town - a bigger project
Map Adventures - from the US Geological Survey - for Gr. 1 Social Studies, Local Community
Build a Medieval Castle - a learning activity that teaches about history, feudalism and life in the Middle Ages. Free educational software. Build your own medieval castle, complete with towers, gatehouse and keep. To understand how an army lay siege to a castle, how a castle was defended, or what it might be like to live in a castle (though this varied by who you were) -- build a model castle. To understand the parts of a castle, and why it was built that way, build a model castle.
Teachers can download free software for kids to make their own shields (coats of arms).