Activity of the Month: February 2011

Roman Roads!

You will need:

chocolate chips (white) or mini-marshmallows
chocolate covered raisins
Gladware containers
granola
Hershey's Minis or inexpensive cookies
lemonade (pink or yellow) or Nestle Quik (strawberry)
overhead projector
York Peppermint Patties

The Roman Empire contained over 50,000 miles of roads! These roads not only helped the army move about to conquer new lands and to maintain the peace, but they were also vital to trade and commerce. The roads were so well constructed that many of them can still be seen today!

Directions: Start with the Gladware container: this will be the ditch (fossa) in which you will construct your road. Pour some sand (lemonade or Nestle Quik) into the ditch and even it out. Pour an even layer of large rocks (white chocolate chips or mini-marshmallows), and then a layer of crushed rocks (granola). To top off the road, place paving slabs (Hershey's Minis or cookies) on the top layer of rocks to make a smooth road surface.

Roman roads were often traveled by horses, who would leave behind droppings in the road. Now, the Romans didn't like stepping in the horse droppings, so make sure you place some stepping stones (York Peppermint Patties) across the road! Finally, place some horse droppings (chocolate covered raisins) on the road and make sure you don't step in them!

Watch some kids make a slightly different version of a Roman road below!


Roman Culture Activities - Engineering: Roads
Mrs. Kristen Bortner and Ms. Stuart Davis