Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Numismatics: Coins and Currency in Colonial America
Valuable lessons in the history of Europeans' early exploration and settlement of America can be gained by following the money used in trade. Coins and Currency exhibition lets you examine evidence of Spanish, British, Dutch, French, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Then and Now Life in Early America
Select from lesson plans that challenge students to compare everyday objects from colonial times to present day objects. Links to sites with photos and other primary sources will assist students in their comparison.
Digital History
Digital History: Social Class in Colonial America [Pdf]
By examining primary sources such as diaries and tax records, and a chapter from a secondary source, learn about the social classes apparent in colonlial America. Suggested student exercises guide crtitical thinking assessment of the...
Digital History
Digital History: Diversity in Colonial America
Read about the diversity in colonial America and the ways founders of colonies tried to encourage settlement in their colony.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Life in Colonial America
This activity presents an explanation about who the early colonists were and why they came to America. Young scholars will explore their lives and the economy by navigating the Internet. Students will conclude the activity by completing...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Religious Diversity in America
Article provides an overview discussion of an ethnic and religious pluralistic society explaining distinguishing factors of religious life in North America. Includes guideance for student discussion, scholar debate and links to related...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s
In this very detailed lesson plan, students will explore what life was like during colonial life in the late 1700s. Students will use what they have learned to write fictional letters to a cousin.
Other
San Francisco Unified School District: Colonial Faire Project
A large collection of high-quality resources for learning and teaching about the Thirteen English Colonies. The main page outlines examples of student project possibilities. There are individual pages for primary resources, people from...
Other
Colonial America: Life in Colonial America
Here's a site with lots of information written by middle school students. Click on English Colonial Life, then Development of Self-Government for more information on government of the colonies.
Other
Gettysburg College: Childhood in Colonial America
A student-created college history project. It looks at different aspects of childhood during colonial times, including education, discipline, play, and daily life. (Note: A few images no longer load.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate in Early Colonial America
Several examples of pots for coffee, tea, and chocolate from the colonial period. Learn how Americans adopted the practice of drinking coffee and tea, and how this practice affected society, daily life, and the decorative art created by...
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Mathematics With a Mob Cap
This hands-on multidisciplinary activity, combines math and social studies. Students will discover how 18th Century fashion, and culture impacted Colonial Life.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: The Randolphs
Learn about the Randolphs, a wealthy family of influence in Colonial America.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: A Colonial Christmas in Wiliamsburg
Site offers a glimpse of Christmas Celebrations in Colonial Virginia.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Eighteenth Century Music and Dance
Site provides lesson that examines the role of dance and music in Colonial Williamsburg. Interactive group activities highlight this lesson.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Christmas in Colonial Virginia
Detailed description of a typical Colonial Virginian Christmas celebration and how it differs from the modern Christmas.
Other
Mansions in Colonial America
A variety of pictures demonstrating the kinds of mansions lived in by the wealthier landowners.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Religion, Women, and the Family
This National Humanities Center site from the University of Delaware discusses family life, childrearing, and the importance of religion in colonial America as written about in various books.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Colonial House
Companion website for Colonial House, a televised experiment in historical reenactment, provides information and insight about what daily life, in 1628, must have been like for English settlers in early America. With video clips from the...
University of Maryland
Umbc: Children's Lives at Colonial London Town
A digital storybook called Children's Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families. London Town is located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and was a trading port in 18th century colonial America. There is an...
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Politics in Colonial Virginia
This site explores the politics involved in Colonial Williamsburg, leading up to the American Revolution. Content focuses on famous speeches, documents, and influential people.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Colonial House: For Teachers: 'Tis a Very Dirty Manner of Life
Interactive adjunct to the popular PBS series Colonial House, which follows the efforts of modern-day families attempting to live as early colonists in seventeenth-century Maine, focuses on the language and expressions common to that...
Books in the Classroom
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: Colonial America
A detailed resource of recommended children's books on Colonial America, including discussion and research starters, teaching activities, and title suggestions.
The History Cat
The History Cat: History of Colonial America: The Thirteen Colonies
Compares life in the three regions of the thirteen British colonies - the New England colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut), the Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey), and the...