Teaching resources

1 Overview

Our digital learning resources are best browsed in our Learn, Create & Play section, which offers:

Make and Create guides and some 'Craft Knight' films to accompany these
Drawing activities and colouring sheets
Games for both the classroom and the home
Fact sheets for learners
Learner-created films
An Educators' Area offering further resources for learning practitioners

This Teaching Resources section of our website has some useful resources for group leaders preparing a learning visit to one of the historic places in our care.

Our background information and tour notes help you familiarise yourself with a historic site before you arrive. These will help you work out the most relevant highlights for your group and plan your route accordingly. We also have some themed resources to help you link your site visit to broader social studies topics.

Many of our resources are also available in Gaelic - so why not explore our Gaelic resources area.

We’re looking to refresh our teaching and learning resources – if you’d like to share any feedback on what you’d like added or improved, please email amy.mcdonald@hes.scot. Or if you’d be happy to provide feedback on ad hoc projects, we’d be glad to add you to our Learning Resources Advisory Group email list!

2 Themed resources

Download a range of guides to help your study of places, people, events, themes and objects from Scotland’s past.

Evidence record

Learners can use our evidence record to note down discoveries as they investigate our sites.

See our guide to Gaelic resources for Gaelic versions of this and other materials.

3 Site guides

Start getting to know a site before you even set foot in it. It’s the best way to give your learners a head start on the day of your visit.

Our Investigating Historic Sites series of downloads covers more than 35 of our properties.

Each site guide typically provides:

a timeline and historical background
ideas for before the visit
approaches for working on site
suggestions for follow-up work
tour notes for the most important locations on site
notes about visiting the site
links to additional resources for teachers and pupils

Stirling Castle tour route leaflet

Stirling Castle Overview Route – English [PDF, 1.71MB]
Stirling Castle Overview Route – French [PDF, 350KB]
Stirling Castle Overview Route – German [PDF, 1.37MB]

4 Make and create

These creative resources take a playful look at a range of themes. We hope you enjoy using them at home, at school, at one of our historic sites or wherever your group meets up!

Craft and play activities

NEW - Playful Pack: play castles at home!
Design a castle stronghold [PDF, 2.53MB]
Make a mini catapult [PDF, 1.67MB]
Make your own heraldic shield [PDF, 533KB]
Make your own jousting helmet [PDF, 130KB]
Make your own lion or unicorn puppet [PDF, 352KB]

Colouring sheets

NEW - Castle [PDF, 375KB]
NEW - Crown [PDF, 768KB]
NEW - Jousting Knight [PDF, 855KB]
NEW - Unicorn [PDF, 659KB]
Drummer Boy [PDF, 148KB]
Hebridean Girl [PDF, 160KB]
Knight [PDF, 140KB]
Monk [PDF, 128KB]
Pictish Boy [PDF, 120KB]
Princess [PDF, 154KB]
Viking Warrior [PDF, 132KB]

Scran resources

Scran is available to anyone wishing to access its more than 480,000 digital resources for studying heritage.

Find out more about Scran.

5 Search all learning publications

Find educational publications for purchase as well as a wide range of learning resources that you can download for free.

Search for learning publications by keyword, category and/or publication date.

Search publications

Teaching resources

1 Overview

2 Themed resources

Evidence record

Investigating Historic Sites: Places

Investigating Historic Sites: People

Investigating Historic Sites: Events

Life in medieval Scotland

Investigating Historic Sites: Special Themes

Investigating Historic Sites: Carved Stones

Forestry Commission Scotland resources