1 Welcome
We’ve brought together some of our favourite resources to share with you online.
Across our Learn, Create & Play pages you’ll find games to play, colouring sheets to doodle on, crafts to make, recipes to try, and videos to watch. You can also choose to dive into our ‘Investigate’ section to explore historic sites and topics in more depth.
Don’t forget to check out our medieval fun for families: train as a stonemason, kit yourself out as a jousting knight, party like a king or queen of the past, prepare for a medieval battle, create some royal works of art, and immerse yourself in medieval abbey life.
Educators can access information to support their planning in our dedicated Educators' Area.
We hope you have fun playing, creating, exploring and investigating and that these resources will inspire you to visit some of our historic places in the future.
2 Gaelic
Halò agus Fàilte!
An seo gheibhear blas an asgaidh air cuid de na geamaichean is goireasan as fheàrr leinn, air an toirt seachad le, agus airson, beagan spòrs.
Hello and welcome!
Here you’ll find a taste of the games, creative activities and resources we have to offer.
Cluich / Play
Thoir a-mach na peansailean airson dath a chuir air uilebheistean! An seo gheibhear blas air cuid de na geamaichean againn.
Get your pencils at the ready to colour in a monster! Here you’ll find a taste of the games we have to offer.
An taigh-dubh Àrnol / The Arnol Blackhouse
Caisteal Shruighlea / Stirling Castle
Muillean Stanley / Stanley Mills
Cuir dath air eachdraidh / Colouring in history
Cruthaich / Create
Thoir a-mach na siosaran agus cruthaich an sgiath agad fhèin! An seo gheibhear cuid de na goireasan cruthachail againn.
Get the scissors out and create your own shield! Here you’ll find some of the creative resources we have to offer.
Cruthaich an sgiath agad fhèin / Make your own shield
Cruthaich na pupaidean agaibh fhèin / Make your own puppets
Cuir ri chèile taigh-dubh / Build our own Blackhouse
Rannsaich / Investigate
Rannsaich is faigh barrachd a-mach mu dheidhinn cuspairean is topaigean co-cheangailte ri dualchas agus eachdraidh na h-Alba an seo.
Research and dive into some topical resources connected with Scotland’s amazing history and heritage.
Antonine Wall information in Gaelic
Gairm Obar Bhrothaig - leabhran obrach / Declaration of Arbroath - Activity Book
Rùrachadh / Explore
Tha stòras prìseil againn ann an Alba de chultar, dualchas agus eachdraidh. Cleachd na goireasan an seo airson leum a-steach air.
We have a precious resource of culture, heritage and history in Scotland. Why not use these resources to explore them?
Goireasan airson luchd-teagasg / Resources for Educators
Seo goireasan topaigeach airson taic a thoirt do luchd-teagasg leis na leasanan aca.
Here are some resources for education professionals to help them deliver the best sessions.
Medieval Castle Life Handling Box
Tha sinn an dòchas gum bi deagh spòrs agaibh leis na goireasan seo.
Ma bhios ceistean, no molaidhean idir agaibh an cuir sibh brath thugainn aig gaidhlig@hes.scot
We hope that you have fun with these resources. If you have any questions or thoughts, please contact us at gaidhlig@hes.scot
3 Play
Play your way through Scotland’s history with games inspired by the past.
Games
- NEW Dive into Siege Quest, a choose-your-own-way adventure where you can explore life in a castle under siege
- NEW The Maiden's Leap - A Tale of Two Towers (story and activities)
- Open up our Playful Castles Pack (ideas for play at home with younger children)
- Play Merelles or Nine Men's Morris [PDF, 3.15MB]
- Talk your way into a job with our That Job is History game [PDF, 1.10MB]
- Get active with our Gardyloo game [PDF, 349KB]
- Have a go at our Abbey snakes & ladders game [PDF, 426KB]
- Take on our Minecraft/Lego Castle-building Challenge [PDF, 1.83MB]
- Enjoy sensory play activities [PDF, 335KB]inspired by masons' marks
- Create your own palace entertainment [PDF, 246KB]
- Plan a fabulous feast [PDF, 175KB] - you may also like our Medieval Feasting in the Great Hall information sheet and the Great Hall feast draw and colour sheet
- Play our Go Forth and Discover digital game (1.8GB .zip file download on The Forth Bridges website)
- Play our Go Roman digital game (download available for Android and iOS on the Antonine Wall website)
Word searches
- Solve this word search about rocks and stones in Scotland's historic buildings
- Can you solve this easy word search about traditional buildings in Scotland?
- Solve this more challenging word search about traditional buildings in Scotland
- Find the different building types in this word search
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.
4 Make & Create
Whether it’s planning for a medieval feast or designing your own shield, here’s where to get creative!
Inspired by castles
- **NEW** Make Dorothea in her Tower (craft) and be inspired by the Maiden's Leap story
- Design a cardboard castle stronghold [PDF, 2.53MB]
- Make a working trebuchet [PDF, 3.02MB]
- Make a mini catapult [PDF, 1.67MB]
- Use what you have at home to build seven castle features [PDF, 629KB]
- Castle construction challenges:
- Make a paper Royal Bed Chamber [PDF, 875KB]
View our Craft Knight Playlist on Youtube
Inspired by knights
- Make your own jousting helmet [PDF, 507KB], horse [PDF, 1.29MB] and lance [PDF, 890KB]
- Make your own heraldic shield [PDF, 533KB]
- Craft Knight: Make your own jousting champions [PDF, 396KB]
- Make gauntlets with Craft Knight on YouTube: Lockdown Edition
Inspired by medieval times
- Become a Soapmason [PDF, 311KB]
- Bake some Mary Queen of Scots shortbread [PDF, 916KB]
- Create your own seal with carving tools
- Create your own seal matrix with carving tools
- Create an amazing paper abbey [PDF, 2.28MB]
- Make your own jester hat [PDF, 330KB]
- Make your own mask inspired by the carved stone heads from Elgin Cathedral
- Make lion and unicorn puppets [PDF, 1MB]
- Make a lion headband [PDF, 493KB]
- Make some royal biscuits [PDF, 146KB]
Inspired by traditional building materials
- Get your scissors and glue ready and make a model Blackhouse [PDF, 307KB]
- Learn about iron as a building material create a casting from chocolate!
Inspired by UNESCO World Heritage sites
- Make your own Edinburgh Sedan Chair [PDF, 3.99MB]
- Make your own St Kilda Island [PDF, 1.49MB]
- Make your own St Kilda Mailboat [PDF, 764KB]
- Make your own Neolithic Carved Stone Ball [PDF, 238KB]
- Make your own Neolithic Pinch Pot [PDF, 230KB]
Inspired by Scottish Buildings
Inspired to make your own Scottish town or city? Download our papercraft templates for Scottish buildings from tower blocks to tenements.
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.
5 Draw & Colour
Do you like to doodle and dream – or focus and shade? Get those pens and pencils ready!
Inspired by medieval times
- Draw a portrait in a border inspired by the Stirling Heads
- Create your own Stirling Heads portrait
- Colour in a Castle
- Colour in a Crown
- Colour in a Jousting Knight
- Colour in a Unicorn
- Imagine a busy castle kitchen
- Fill your feasting plate
- Imagine a Great Hall feast
- Create a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots
Inspired by Scottish historic sites
Get creative with the kids or bring some mindfulness to your day as you colour in some of your favourite Historic Environment Scotland sites like Stirling Castle, Melrose Abbey, or the Blackhouse in Arnol. Learn about the materials these places were built with, and the people who made them.
Download the colouring sheets nowInspired by UNESCO World Heritage sites
- Antonine Wall [PDF, 2.16MB]
- Forth Bridge [PDF, 1.66MB]
- Heart of Neolithic Orkney [PDF, 1.91MB]
- New Lanark [PDF, 2.14MB]
- Old and New Towns of Edinburgh [PDF, 1.31MB]
- St Kilda [PDF, 2.09MB]
- All six Scottish WHS [PDF, 735KB]
- Scotland's World Heritage Site Map [PDF, 394KB]
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.
6 Explore
View augmented reality (AR) models:
- Explore 3D models of Edinburgh Castle and Caerlaverock Castle
- Explore 3D models of historic sites, carved stones, rock art and artefacts on Sketchfab
- Explore AR models of Rosslyn Chapel and the Nagasaki Crane
Watch our video guides and bring some of our remarkable historic places and their stories into your home.
Visit Doune Castle and Orkney with the Junior Tour Guides
Explore historic sites through our apps:
- Maeshowe: download for iOS or Android and virtually explore the chambered tomb in the heart of Neolithic Orkney. Give our Maeshowe Challenge [PDF, 220KB] a go too
- Antonine Wall: download from Apple Store and Google Play to explore and learn about the Antonine Wall
- Digital Documentation Companion: download for iOS and Android to explore 3D models of sites and objects through Augmented Reality (AR)
Research different parts of Scotland’s heritage:
- Browse half a million images, videos and audio files all about heritage and culture on Scran
- Investigate archaeological, industrial and maritime sites and buildings across Scotland on Canmore
- Delve into our historic object collections from our properties in care
- Search through the finds people have made along the Antonine Wall
- Get to know your Rock Art with a special searchable database
- Enjoy recordings of stories, songs, music, poetry and factual information from Tobar an Dualchais
- Get to know Stirling with Wallace High School YouTube videos
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.
7 Investigate
Looking for information about Scotland’s past and ideas for investigating people, events and places? Start your investigations here!
- Investigating the Sealants of the Declaration of Arbroath - this resource, produced jointly with National Records of Scotland, allows P7/S1 pupils studying the Scottish Wars of Independence to investigate the individuals who attached their seals to the Declaration of Arbroath.
- NEW Take our Edinburgh Castle Maths Quest for 8 - 11 year olds
- Explore our Declaration of Arbroath Activity Booklet
- Read 10 blogs all about archaeology
- Find out more about the World Heritage site New Lanark
- Learn about the sites along the Antonine Wall
- Learn Gaelic vocabulary about the historic environment
- Use Sketchfab to investigate how people used medieval armour to get Dressed for Success
- Watch fun short films about castles in Scotland with BBC Bitesize
- Watch videos about medieval life with the Learning Officer from HES partner site Dundonald Castle
- Take our Antonine Wall Sketchfab challenge and investigate 3D models of historic places and object
- Practice your coordinates with a map of Edinburgh Castle
- Watch 'Beside the Fire' - Gaelic stories told in English by Sgoil and Siar
Information sheets
Guiding you through food, work and play in medieval Scotland:
- Cooking in a Medieval Castle
- Cooking in a Medieval Village
- Medieval Feasting in the Great Hall
- Having Fun in Medieval Scotland
- Keeping Clean in Medieval Scotland
- Working in a Medieval Castle
- Medieval Abbey Gardens
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.
8 Educators' Area
These resources are designed to support learning practitioners explore topics with their learners. We’ve also included links to some of the excellent materials developed by other heritage organisations.
If you’d like to join our Learning Resources Advisory Group email list, please email learning@hes.scot. We get in touch every month or two to flag up new resources, ask for ideas to shape resources in development, and offer access a range of free trialling opportunities.
*NEW* Drama activities for primary schools
Take a peek at seven drama activities that can support topics such as Castles and Wars of Independence. They were created by drama specialist and author Barbara Henderson to celebrate her new novel for upper primary pupils – The Siege of Caerlaverock. You’ll find a reflective reading classroom pack, featuring a range of Historic Environment Scotland learning resources, on the Cranachan Publishing website.
*NEW*
Illustrated activity booklet about the Declaration of Arbroath and accompanying teachers' notes.
*NEW* Heritage at your fingertips
Ideas for learning practitioners looking to explore heritage digitally with learners.
*NEW* Maths Quest
Aimed at P5-7 pupils, your learners can enjoy this Edinburgh Castle themed maths quest in the classroom, at home or outdoors.
Virtual visits to Edinburgh & Stirling Castles
If you’re looking for a virtual class trip, delve into our Edinburgh and Stirling Castle online resources with your learners. We can’t wait to hear how educators use these resources to develop learning activities. Do let us know how you craft your #LearningWithHES!
Take a look at some sample virtual visit ideas for using the resources:
- Plot to capture Edinburgh Castle!
- Virtual work experience at Edinburgh Castle
- Stirling Castle: pick ‘n’ mix medieval jobs
Themed Resources for Educators
- Abbeys and Priories in Scotland
- Castles in Scotland
- Early Carved Stones
- Heritage on your Doorstep
- Mary Queen of Scots
- The Jacobite Risings
- The Wars of Independence: 1296–1357
Primary Sources
Scran - digital heritage and cultural resources
Access half a million images, videos and audio files on material culture and human history.
National Record of the Historic Environment
Explore archaeological, industrial and maritime sites and buildings across Scotland.
Historic Environment Scotland Properties in Care Collections
Delve into the history of Scotland by exploring our historic object collections.
PastMap
Locate Scotland’s archaeological and historic sites on this interactive online map (includes a short video tutorial)
Antonine Wall finds
Search the database for a large number of finds along the Antonine Wall
Historic Environment Scotland’s Sketchfab account
Explore over 300 3D models of historic sites such as Edinburgh and Caerlaverock Castles and varied collection items.
Learning Links
Antonine Wall learning resources
Edinburgh World Heritage learning resources
Go Forth - Forth Bridge learning resources
BBC Bitesize short films about castles in Scotland
Archaeology Scotland’s Heritage Resources Portal (resources from multiple organisations)
People of medieval Scotland resources by University of Glasgow and Education Scotland
Forestry and Land Scotland's Into the Wildwoods resource about Mesolithic hunter-gatherers
Forestry and Land Scotland's The First Foresters resource about the Neolithic pioneers
Careers with HES
Do you know someone who may want to play a part in Scotland’s history? You can find out about some of the different roles we do and help young people explore A Career with Historic Environment Scotland.
Watch our videos to hear remarkable stories from our people who will tell you all about their time working for us:
- Meet the modern apprentices at Edinburgh Castle
- Behind the scenes with our interns - Hear from Jen
- Behind the scenes with our interns - Hear from Sofia
- A day in the life at Melrose Abbey
- A day in the life at Cairnpapple Hill
- Watch some short videos from our Conservation team in our A Minute with...series.
We’d love to hear about your learn at home activities – do share your #LearningWithHES online!
If you’d like to give us feedback on these resources please get in touch by emailing learning@hes.scot.