Make a Historical Shield Project and the History of Shields PowerPoint

This is a GREAT project for elementary students through high school! Each year (at the end of the year for me), I have my students reenact historical battles outside. It is a great way to get the students out for at least an hour and have some fun with history. The students love it and it has become a highlight for many in grades 9-12 (I teach high school).

This project is straight-forward. Collect as much cardboard as you can, run through the PowerPoint that discusses various types of shields with the students and show them some YouTube videos about making shields and then let them go off and make their own! There is a worksheet that goes with the project to make sure that they make a historical representation and that they know what the shield would have been made out of, who would have used it, and how it would have been used on the battlefield.

Have plenty of scissors, sharpies of all sizes and colors, and duct tape on hand too for this project! I usually have parents donate some tape or markers, which they do! If you can let them use paint, have that on hand too, I have new carpet, so I stick with markers and duct tape.

My AP World History students like this after a year of hitting the books.