Instructions for building the Round house and Roman villa

Children really enjoy making these large models. They help children understand how each building was constructed and enable them to compare differences in design and materials used.

The activity requires good team work and close adult supervision as some pieces are heavy. Have fun building….

Building the Roundhouse

Roundhouses were built from natural materials including wood, mud and reeds. As these rot away the only evidence left are 2 rings of post holes and a ditch around the outside.

2 rings of post holes

building materials

Slot the long poles into the central ring of holes.

Fit the wooden ring onto the circle of long poles. You will need a few people for this.

Slot the short poles into the outer ring of holes. Look for

the doorway, it is the slightly wider gap in the poles.

doorway

Building the walls.

This is the most complicated part of the building. Work as a whole group to build up 3 or 4 slats in one section first, so children can see how to weave them between the posts.

Start by one of the short doorway posts. Put the string over the post, then weave the wall slat in and out. Put the string over the last post and then push the slat down. You can pull the string through to either side.

Always have a child holding each end of the wall slat.

Make sure you start the slats alternately, in-front and then behind the first post. Weave them in and out the posts. This will make a ‘basket’ pattern, the slat below will support the next one.

When the children are confident weaving the wall slats they can work on 3 sections of wall at the same time.

Putting on the roof

Put the crescent shaped piece of wood onto the posts each side of the doorway.

Hook each roof slat onto a tall post and then over a short post in line with it. Spread the slats and hook the string around the adjacent one to hold them apart.

The children can go in this house.

The wattle walls would have been covered in mud and straw and the wooden roof slats covered in reeds or thatch.

Congratulations, you have built the Roundhouse

Building the Roman villa Put the brick blocks into the spaces on board to build

the hypercaust for the under floor heating. Lay the black floor panel on top of the blocks, ridge side up.

Make the mosaic puzzle on this floor piece. Start

with the 2 pieces that fit into the outlined shapes.

Start with these shapes

Find the back wall and put the brightly painted side against mosaic floor. The walls are large and heavy, so always use at least two people to move them.

Building the villa walls

back wall – straight top

Slot the side walls over the large pegs on the back wall. Make sure the brightly painted walls are on the inside of

the villa.

large peg

The roof pieces are heavy, so use lots of people to lift each piece. Slot the roof pieces onto the pegs on the

top of the walls. Be careful of fingers as you do this.

Put the antifixes into the holes along the edge of the roof….

and push the fire into the hole in the wall.

Congratulations, you have built a Roman villa. This is not strong enough for children to go into, please just let children look in.