Life in a medieval village

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 20 minutes

Read together

In a medieval village in Europe, most families farmed. The church was often at the centre.

Bells marked the hours and feast days.

Do it

1. Draw a village with fields, a mill, a well and a church.
2. Plan a day: who works in the field, who bakes bread, who goes to church?
3. Bake or eat a simple bread. Compare it with food today.
4. List what is the same and what is different about daily life now.

Talk about it

• What did people grow?
• What is different from your life?

For the grown-up

Life varied across Europe and over a thousand years, so avoid one picture. Most people were farmers, and church life shaped the calendar. Avoid saying the Middle Ages were simply dark. Take care with flour and kitchen heat.

Mark as done

← Previous lesson

Where this comes from

• Gies, F., and Gies, J., Life in a Medieval Village (Harper & Row, 1990)
• Duby, G., Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West (Edward Arnold, 1968)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.