The Maya, Aztec and Inca

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 35 minutes

Read together

The Maya, Aztecs and Incas built great cities and had advanced farming, maths and astronomy.

They lived in different places and times, so they were three different peoples.

Do it

1. Find the Maya region (southern Mexico and Central America), the Aztec capital (Mexico City today) and the Inca lands (the Andes) on a map.
2. Draw one thing each is known for: Maya numbers and calendar, Aztec floating gardens, Inca terraces and roads.
3. Write the numbers 1 to 10 using dots and bars, as the Maya did.
4. Say what is different about each, and note that these peoples and their descendants are still alive today.

Talk about it

• How did each people use its land?
• How do we know about them?

For the grown-up

Keep the three peoples distinct, and treat them as living cultures, not only ruins. Their history includes conquest and loss after 1519 and 1532, and also religious practices that you may wish to approach with older children in a separate talk. Many descendants are Christian today, and many keep older customs too.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Coe, M. D., The Maya (Thames & Hudson, 9th edition, 2011)
• Smith, M. E., The Aztecs (Wiley-Blackwell, 3rd edition, 2012)
• D'Altroy, T. N., The Incas (Wiley-Blackwell, 2nd edition, 2014)

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