Indus Valley Civilization Lesson Plan

The links compiled in the April 2007 Newsletter are suitable for all ages.  The word games are better for the older child.  Everyone, from elementary school aged children to adults, will find the videos and other interactive presentations very interesting.  Typically, children aged four and up are fascinated by the pyramids of Egypt – and many know and relish all kinds of information and facts about that era.  The remains from the Indus Valley Civilization are from roughly the same period.  The links compiled in this Newsletter will arouse the same curiosity about this civilization also.  Older children will find much to learn and maybe even find something for a school assignment.

Watch and Listen

Watch the online videos http://www.mohenjodaro.net/  and http://www.harappa.com/indus5/index.html together.

Look at some pictures in the slide show about toys, clothes, jewelry, seals, drains, wells and buildings, figurines and pictures of the ‘priest king’.. (Choose slides from the index http://www.harappa.com/indus3/slideindex.html ) Look at the details of buildings, clothes, coins, toys and talk about them.  Listen to your child's answers and questions.

Ask and Think

For young children:

What do you think their toys were like? Are they like your toys?  What were they made of?  Why?

Are their houses like ours?

For 2-5 graders:

Where is the Indus Valley?

How long ago did these cities exist?

What can we learn from the artifacts found there?  Eg the seals tell us that they had a written language.

What did they do with the seals?

Grades 6 and Up:

Encourage the older child to read the essay http://www.harappa.com/indus3/e1.html

What can we infer about the people and their way of life from the buildings, city planning and absence of weapons?

What can we infer about trade and their contact with the rest of the world from the seals and weights and measures found?

Play

Play history detective with Professor Indus at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/indusvalley/      This game is designed for the child to play without the parent/teacher

Older children can play The Indus Challenge - Match Pottery Fragments http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/indus/challenge/cha_set.html