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| 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!!
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| 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!!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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"!
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| Neolithic Age |
And can you see the
food she added to one of the plates![Its craft foam putty!]
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| Neolithic Age Diorama |
And we added a toy basket as Neolithic man were expert at basket making!!
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| 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!
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| Stone Wheel in Neolithic Age |
And the major points differentiating the
Neolithic Period from the
Paleolithic Period....cultivation and domestication of animals!
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| 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!
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| 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 !
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| 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 ] !
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| 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] !
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| 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!
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| 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 renovation state of Kerala , near the popular tourist town of Munnar!
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| 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!!
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| 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 CornstalkStamp 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
