Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.

Shopping in a Roman town
Part of 'The way of life of people who lived in the more distant past in Britain'.

Enactive learning - learning by doing. Over the ten weeks the children handled Roman artefacts, built a Roman road, and created Roman baths and a Roman market. They loved it. Parents reported that all their children talked about was the Romans, and were amazed at how much they knew about Roman life.

Town markets were a central aspect of life in Roman Britain, so to end our term's work on the Romans we staged a Roman market. Through this activity the children could begin to answer such questions as: How did people shop in a Roman town?

How did Romans dress? What was Roman food like? Where did they buy it? Through enacting a day at the market, the children could experience a different shopping pattern from our supermarket-dominated one today.

We were teaching a Reception / Year 1 class. The shopping/market approach can be used for any period of history and adapted for any age group. When we staged a Roman market with Year 3 children at a different school, we incorporated numeracy - the children had to price their goods in Roman asses, sestertii and denarii. (The British Museum's The Romans activity book gives a guide to Roman money and realistic pricing.)

(These resources are attached at the end of this page) 

Primary teaching methods (including sections on reading books; the visual image; drama and role play; questions and questioning) Linked lesson and exemplar Lesson: Roman baths Topic books exemplar: Build a Roman road. Romans: background information for teachers