Stonehenge For Kids _ What Is It_

5,000 years ago something mysterious happened. No one knows exactly why it happened and no one knows exactly who did it. But a circular stone structure appeared here in Wiltshire in the United Kingdom. It is called Stonehenge. Some people think aliens, some people think magic and some people have spent their entire lives trying to find out. What those people have found out is that Stonehenge is a prehistoric temple because all the stones are aligned with the movements of the sun. Let's go see what all the fuss is about. Well here we are at the mysterious Stonehenge. As you can see the stones are in a circular formation and they're making unusual shapes. Now people who have studied Stonehenge know that it did not just appear overnight. It is believed that it was made in three stages and it took 30 million hours of hard labour. That means making and building to get to the completed structure. That is the same as you being at school for 3,424 years without any holidays, without any weekends and without ever getting to go home. Now that doesn't rock. The first stage was 5,000 years ago. They dug big holes in a circle and used the inside of the holes to make a wall to protect it. Archaeologists have found human bones from around that time. The second stage was the most demanding stage. 82 special stones were brought over from Wales which is 386 kilometres away. Now they couldn't just pick them up and carry them. They weighed 4,000 kgs each. So what they did is made little roller skates out of tree logs and they rolled them from the west coast of Wales and then floated them up the river on homemade rafts. Once they finally got here they set them up in two circles with an entranceway so that the midsummer sun could shine through. The third stage happened 150 years after the last one. Now they decided to bring in some new stones because the last ones were so last century. Now this wasn't an easy job. These new stones weighed over 50,000 kgs each. But they didn't have to travel as far as the last ones. They only came up 40 kilometres from a place called Aylesbury. Now they couldn't even float these ones up the river so they had to pull them using some logs. It was not an easy job. It was said that it took over 500 men to pull just one stone. So I think it took a little while. Once they got here they put the stones in a circle around the ones that were already there. Then they put some smaller ones in the shape of a horseshoe inside. And we can still see that horseshoe shape today. Now before anyone knew the facts everyone had their own ideas of how Stonehenge came to be here. Now I have a friend here who's going to tell us a story of what some people used to think. A long time ago many people worshipped the sun and believed she was in charge of the earth. One spring day there was a group of sun followers who wanted to build the perfect temple so they could worship the sun. The sun guided them to a small forest by the river where they could find all the wood they would need. After working all day and night they managed to build a woodhenge. The sun was pleased and shone down gladly at them. The happier the sun was the stronger she became. But then she realised that the woodhenge was not made of the correct materials because it burnt and shriveled in the heat. She instructed the followers to go and find the sacred stones. They searched far and wide and eventually found strong and sturdy stones. They crossed the woodhenge with these sacred stones building an impressive Stonehenge. The sun loved her followers and she made sure that the earth got lots of sun so that they could grow crops. During the winter months the sun is always there hiding behind a cloud trying to send her warm sun rays to her ever-loving followers. Whoa! Wasn't that interesting? Now it is your turn to write your own story about how you think Stonehenge came to be. Was it aliens? Do you think someone did it as a prank? Do you think there was an earthquake and the stones fell into place? Let me know what you think. So did you find all the bits? Did you make any improvements? There's always room to make things better. Now I'm very much looking forward to seeing all your creative ideas on how you think Stonehenge got here. Now when you're done please send me a copy of your writing or even record yourself reading it. I'm sure all the touring teacher classes would love to hear your ideas. Now I've just gotta say it, you guys rock! I'll see you next time. Wait, what's that noise? Guess this is my ride home. Bye!