Early Humans and the Stone Age

In Ice Age (2002) a lugubrious mammoth, a cheerful sloth, a hyperactive squirrel, and suspiciously sly saber-toothed tiger team up to reunite a human toddler with his nomadic Stone-Age tribe. Rated PG.

In Nick Park’s stop-motion Early Man (2018), a tribe of cavepeople have invented the game of football following as asteroid strike. Now many ages have passed – and Dug and his pet warthog must rally the tribe to defeat Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age soldiers. A riotous conflict that involves mammoths and a football match. Rated PG.

Quest for Fire (1981), set in Paleolithic Europe, is the story of three tribesmen searching for a new fire source, a journey that involves encounters with saber-toothed cats, mammoths, and cannibals. Rated R for nudity, gore, and violence.

In The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), Cro-Magnon meets Neanderthal when a young Cro-Magnon girl is raised by a Neanderthal tribe. Rated R for nudity, gore, and violence.

In the Hands-On History series, Charlotte Hurdman’s Stone Age (Armadillo, 2013) has background information and instructions for fifteen hands-on projects, among them your own painted cave art, Stone Age hunting tools, a leopard’s tooth necklace, a miniature Stonehenge model, and recipes for a Stone Age meal. For ages 5-9.

Make an atlatl! An atlatl is a spearthrower – invented in the Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic period) and used by hunters to increase their spear-throwing strength and range. Try it! See Make Your Own Atlatl and Darts.

From Imagining History, Stone Age Crafts for Kids has instructions for making Stone Age jewelry, a stone axe, a model stone circle, and a cave painting.

Try these Stone Age STEAM challenges. Make a dish to hold paint for a cave painting, weave a bag or basket for carrying crops, used a hammerstone for cracking nuts – and more.

Make Neolithic bread. You’ll need wheat berries and a lot of elbow grease.

Paleo (Z-Man) is a cooperative adventure board game set in the Paleolithic era. Players gather resources, battle dangers, and do their best to survive – and complete your mammoth cave painting. For 2-4 players ages 10 and up.