Pre-visit and Post-visit Activities

Whether you are planning a trip to Williamsburg or need resources for your classroom instruction, history.org provides activities, lessons, distance learning opportunities, and tools to communicate with your colleagues.

All grades:

• Create a free account on the Colonial Williamsburg Education Resource Library. Find free resources including videos, lesson plans, learning games, primary sources, and more for all grade levels. Topics span American history and civics from Jamestown to the present day.
• Follow Colonial Williamsburg Education on Facebook. Connect with other teachers and get the latest teaching news and resources from Colonial Williamsburg.
• Watch "History Moments" short videos on Colonial Williamsburg's YouTube channel.
• Have students view Williamsburg: Story of a Patriot and follow the story of John Frye (a fictional character) during the crucial period when colonists resisted British taxation without representation, met force with force, and chose revolution. After the film, have students discuss the pros and cons of Independence.
• Tour the Town is an interactive tour of the Colonial Williamsburg experience to use on your computer, tablet or most smartphones. Have students visit specific areas of curiosity and prepare questions to ask in the Historic Area.

Lower elementary grades K-3:

• The Kids Zone offers games, activities and resources about life in colonial America.
• Do the Daily Jigsaw puzzle and see images that prepare you for the people you may encounter and experiences you may have while touring the Revolutionary City.
• Fill in a KWL chart prior to your visit to Colonial Williamsburg. Questions answered should be: what I know, what I want to know, and what I learned.

Upper elementary grades 4-5 & middle school grades 6-8

• Stay up to date with Colonial Williamsburg by visiting our Daily Feature page; here you can learn a word of the day, see live webcams of the Historic Area, and find out what happened on this date in the 1770s.
• Test your citizenship knowledge by taking the Citizenship Quiz.
• Create a student WebQuest for the Our American Revolution website. Each section of the site is linked to the material culture that tells about the events of the American Revolution and introduces the famous revolutionaries and ordinary townspeople whose lives were transformed in the late 18th century.
• Analyze primary sources by going to the Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library. Here you can view York County Probate Inventories and issues of the Virginia Gazette, an 18th-century newspaper.
• Read from the Young American Book Series, which tells about real Williamsburg 18th-century life. As a post-visit activity, write your own historical fiction.
• Conduct online research and investigate the people, places, life, and even discover an interesting Daily Fact. You may be given a specific topic of research prior to your visit, and while in the Revolutionary City seek out knowledge of your topic. Following your trip report on your findings.

High school grades 9-12

• Stay up to date with Colonial Williamsburg by visiting our Daily Feature page; see live webcams of the Revolutionary City, find out what happened on this date in the 1770s, and visit blogs to ask questions of the authors.
• Explore eWilliamsburg, which offers map-based access to a digitized selection of original manuscripts, photographs and reports documenting the research and restoration. Through exploration you can compare and contrast aerial views of the Revolutionary City from the 1920s and 1990s with that of the Frenchman’s Map of the 18th century.
• Analyze primary sources by going to the Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library. Here you can view York County Probate Inventories and issues of the Virginia Gazette, an 18th-century newspaper.
• Curate your own exhibit with New in the Collection. Learn the stories of the artists and owners behind singular museum acquisitions.
• Subscribe to "The Idea of America," a digital history program, that presents our nation’s rich history from its early beginnings to the 21st century, and connects you to the inspiring story of how each generation of Americans faces challenges and makes choices that shape our nation’s history.