Neolithic Age School Project

Neolithic Age Diorama

         Dear friends , this school year my daughter has to learn about the Stone age with all its subdivisions - the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages! It can get pretty confusing trying to remember what happened during each age!! But kudos to the clever History teacher who asked the children to make a chart, a powerpoint presentation or a model on an assigned age!
           My daughter got Neolithic Age, and of course, if you have been following my blog for sometime you will guess correctly that she opted to make a 3 D model rather than an easier chart or powerpoint presentation!!Haha!!

Neolithic Age Diorama

        We planned out the elements in our Diorama such that each unique and important aspect of the Neolithic Period was highlighted.
        The main reason I am sharing this project in so much detail is that it may benefit someone in future...When I googled about this period I found there was hardly any school project type material online!!
        And for my crafty friends....well do sit back and be transported back into Neolithic Age!!

Neolithic Age Diorama

During  the Paleolithic Age which preceded the Neolithic Age ,  men were predominantly nomads hunting for food and living in caves. During the Neolithic Period they started farming and settled down in small fenced villages and built homes with thatched roofs.

Neolithic Age Diorama

The type of tools used is distinctive in each age . During the Neolithic Period , sophisticated stone tools evolved. My daughter made all the tiny tools referring to pictures of Neolithic tools in her textbook and online. She molded the tools using air drying clay and added "toothpick" handles to some of the tools as "handles" were a hallmark of Neolithic Period stone tools!

Stone Tools

       Neolithic man could make more polished tools compared to his predecessors as he made use of the "grindstone" to smoothen and shape his stone tools! My daughter's grindstone was fashioned with clay which she painted with acrylic paint to give the "stone look"!

Stone Tool Making- Neolithic Age

Neolithic man also used "basalt" ...a type of stone which did not chip easily and hence could be shaped into finer stone tools. And in the picture below you can see the "bone" tools my daughter fashioned by cutting clay which had dried up!

Neolithic Age Tools

During this period man discovered fire and pottery! And my kiddo was sooo proud of all her little pots and vessels she made painstakingly! She added all kinds of little details like the "mound of clay" on the side besides the pots from which the pots were made!

Neolithic Age

 And can you see the food she added to one of the plates![Its craft foam putty!]

Neolithic Age Diorama

And we added a toy basket as Neolithic man were expert at basket making!!

Woven Basket in Neolithic Age 

The invention of the wheel happened in the Neolithic Period ...and they made the wheels by carving stone!! Just imagine!

Stone Wheel in Neolithic Age

And the major points differentiating the Neolithic Period from the Paleolithic Period....cultivation and domestication of animals!

Neolithic Age Diorama

         It is times like these where I am soo glad I have a nice stash of craft supplies I can fall back on to make a project quicker and easier! We could use dies to quickly and easily add a lot of plants to our diorama!
         Neolithic Period man cultivated rice, wheat and barley. Our diorama has maize plants but then I guess that's okay!!Hehe!

Neolithic Age Diorama - Cultivation

Neolithic man settled down near rivers and streams and our deep blue stream is bordered by glittery reeds and vines! Th muddy mound you see near the flower is a lump of clay!! Turned out sooo realistic !

Neolithic Age - riverside settlement

           Most of the objects in the diorama were created by my daughter with help from me for the hot gluing aspect but I couldn't resist contributing bits here and there and one of them is the  lotus! [here is the tutorial : Easy Flower Tutorial ] !

Neolithic Age Diorama 

            My kiddo painted the muddy patches and grassy terrain for her animals. And boy was this an educational as well as a fun project!
            And can you spot the "socks" on one of the cows...well that poor chap had his legs eaten off by my dog when he was a puppy ...but the good news is he can now happily stand on prosthetic clay feet [created by my daughter] !

Neolithic Age - Domestication of Animals

We had signs put up to highlight each important aspect of Neolithic  life and my daughter used glitter foam  to depict fire! The little rocks you can spy right at the back behind the sign was the carton packaging of eggs!!Hehe yeah we used a lot of recycled objects in this project!

Neolithic Age - Religious Practices

         It is always fascinating to read about religious practises and I was so surprised to read that Megaliths [which are huge stone boulders used to mark burial sites] can still  be seen in my home state of Kerala , near the popular tourist town of Munnar!

Neolithic Age - Religious Practices

Our project took a good many hours to complete but boy my daughter was sooo proud of it ! And the best thing is that I think she will remember all the important facts of the Neolithic Period for a good many years!!

Neolithic Age Diorama School Project

Supplies : Dies :  Couture Creations Bijoux,Memory Box Fringe Border,Dee's Distinctively Tree Base 1,Sizzix Tapered Fringe,Sizzix Flower Layers 3 , Cheery Lynn  Sunflower, Spellbinders Frameablities Decorative frame S5 005,MFT Dienamics Cornstalk

Stamp and Die sets :Sizzix- Hero Arts Stamp- Die Set Flowers- Thinking of you, Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf Stamp + Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf Die

Punches : Balloon Punch

Edited : This project was featured at the Pixie's Snippets Playground - Thank you so much Di !!