Cymru am byth! Long live Wales!
Even though Wales is technically part of the United Kingdom, it has a history and traditions which are very different to England, Scotland or Ireland.
Welsh people are very proud of their country - and with good reason! There are beautiful mountains, hills and valleys, plenty of wild animals, a lovely language, lots of castles and even more sheep!
We’re going to learn about all of them.
This workbook is all about the history, geography and delicious foods of Wales. There’s plenty to learn so let’s go!
This workbook has 7 different activities.
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Before you start…
You’ll need some printed worksheets to complete this workbook. Start by clicking the button below and printing out the sheets.
Get a grown up to help you if you need it.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK ‘FIT TO PAGE’ WHEN YOU PRINT
When you’ve printed out the worksheets and got a pen or pencil, then scroll down to the begin the activities.
Not sure how the workbook works? Click the button below…
Here’s a map of Wales…
Sibling Sheets
Do you have a younger brother or sister who wants to join in? Ask your parents to print out a Sibling Sheet for them to colour in.
That way they can feel like they’re joining in with the workbook too!
Activity 1: First Questions
There are lots of interesting things to learn about Wales! Can you answer the questions in this quiz?
Remember, try not to guess but actually do some research to find out the answers - ask your parents, or look on the Internet to find the answers!
One of the answers has a star - that’s the answer that should go in the Answer Grid⭐
Activity 2: Mapping Wales
Take a look a page 3 of your worksheets. There’s a blank map of Wales. We’re going to fill in the map of Wales using different colours to label different things.
You may need to look for a map of Wales online, or using the map above on this page. Don’t worry if everything isn’t in exactly the right place - this activity is for learning, not making perfect maps!
For this activity you’ll need some coloured pencils or pens.
Take a BLUE pencil Trace the coast of Wales with the blue pencil, along the line which is already there
Take a RED pencil Trace the border between England and Wales with the red pencil, along the line which is already there
Take a PURPLE pencil Draw an arrow and label the Llyn Peninsula and the Gower Peninsula
(a peninsula is a piece of land that sticks out into the sea)
Take a GREEN pencil Label Snowdonia National Park, Pembrokeshire National Park and the Brecon Beacons National Park
(The areas with lines in them are National Parks)
Take a YELLOW pencil Label the island of Anglesey - use an arrow if you need to
Take a BLACK pen or pencil Label the Welsh cities and towns below
(There are some clues to help you on page 4 of your workbooks)
Holyhead
Aberaeron
Aberystwyth
Fishguard
Swansea
St. Davids
Conwy
Merthyr Tydfil
Cardiff
Take a GREY pencil Label Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in England and Wales
(Clue: Snowdon is in the north-west corner of snowdonia national park)
Your map is almost finished! Now it’s time to add some pictures of Welsh things - you can add whatever you want - sheep, whales, daffodils, dragons - anything!
Make sure to look for the star on the map ⭐ the name of that town is the answer that goes in the Answer Grid
The Welsh Diaspora
This is the flag of Y Wladfa
Diaspora is a funny word. It means a group of people who don’t live in their home country, but still strongly feel like they’re a part of it. Wales has quite a big diaspora - lots of Welsh people live outside Wales but still think of themselves as Welsh. The biggest populations are in England and the USA, but there’s also a group of Welsh people who live in Patagonia, in the south of Argentina.
The area is called Y Wladfa, which means ‘The Colony’. The people who live there speak Welsh and Spanish, but often no English. Some Welsh people left Wales so they could be more free in Argentina and create a Little Wales Outside Wales.
Patagonia looks quite different to Wales. It’s flat and rocky, and very, very windy. Quite different to Wales which is green, with trees and lots of hills and valleys. Despite this, lots of people in Y Wladfa keep many of the traditions alive - you can find lots of Welsh tea houses there!
(see how the sign on the teapot is in Welsh, but the sign on the grass is in Spanish)
Welsh history
Welsh history is fascinating but long. We don’t have the space to talk about the whole history of Wales, so we made a timeline to show the highlights.
Welsh Castles
Many years ago, Wales was quite a dangerous place. Lots of people lived in villages close to castles. If raiders or attackers came past, everyone could run and hide behind the stone walls of a castle.
Castles were also used by the English to control the Welsh. When Edward I invaded Wales and took control, he built hundreds of castles and told his rich friends they had to live there to keep an eye on the Welsh. That’s partly why Wales has so many castles.
Castles had to be used to defend people and animals, so they were designed to be as difficult to get into as possible. They also needed to be designed so that people could live in them for a while. Sometimes enemies would wait outside the gates for months, trying to fight their way in or wait until the people inside starved. This was called a siege.
Activity 3: Attacking a castle
We’re going to attack this castle, but the locals have set up lots of traps and ways to defend themselves. An old soldier has invaded this castle before. He’s going to tell us about the defenses of the castle.
There are some technical words missing though - can you fill them in? Here’s a list of the words you’ll need:
• Barbican • Moat • Curtain wall • Murder hole • Arrow slits • Spiral staircase • Well • Keep • Batter (or Talus) • Flanking tower • drawbridge • portcullis
On page 5 of your worksheets there’s space to write down the answers in the right order. That’s where you’ll find the star⭐
Next time you visit a castle, see if you can recognize some of the ways that castles are designed to cope with sieges.
Remember though, some castles were built for wars and protecting people, but other castles were built just to look fancy - they’re not easy to defend at all!
Take a look at a few of the castles below. Do you think they would be easy to defend or difficult?
Activity 4: Down the mines
Mining is when people or machines dig underground to find important minerals and metals, like silver or coal. These minerals are often very valuable.
(If you’ve done our Viet Nam workbook, a mine is different to a landmine, which is a weapon that explodes when people step on it)
Wales had a lot of mines, because there’s a lot of valuable minerals and metals underground, particularly coal. When Britain became rich due to the Industrial Revolution, it was only possible because there was lots of coal and iron available, partly from Wales.
Many Welsh people worked as miners, travelling deep underground every day to find lumps of minerals or metal. They would dig with picks, then put the minerals in carts to be taken back to the surface. Sometimes these carts were pulled by small horses called pit ponies. Pit ponies lived their whole lives underground.
Mining was a very dangerous job and many people died or were badly injured in accidents. Tunnels could fall in, or flood with water while people were in them. Sometimes there were explosions or poisonous gas leaks. Even if miners didn’t die in accidents, they could easily get sick as being underground for a long time is not very healthy.
People worked for 12 hours at a time down the mine, and often only had one day of weekend.
Take a look at the mine maze below
Can you travel through the mine and find all the different minerals and metals? To work out what each mineral is, you’ll have to solve a puzzle. Click on the plus signs (+) to find the clues.
You can fill in the answers on page 6 of the worksheets - that’s where you’ll find the star ⭐ There’s also space on page 7 to help you scribble down the answers
Children in the mines
Children would work in the mines as well, because they were smaller and faster than the grown ups.
Some of the jobs that children had were:
sitting in the dark for hours to open doors to let miners in or out when they came past
digging or carrying with their fathers or brothers
pulling or pushing carts filled with coal or rocks
setting fire to explosive in the tunnels (to blow apart the rocks and look for more coal). They had to light the explosive and run as fast as they could through the dark to escape the explosion!
Mining was a dangerous job, especially for children, and eventually children were banned from working down mines. They had to go to school instead, rather than going to work.
Activity 5: The Story of Ceridwen and Taliesin
Wales is famous for its traditional stories. There are hundreds of different stories, about giants and wizards, mermaids and kings, but this one is our favourite. It’s called the Legend of Ceridwen and Taliesin. It’s interesting because Taliesin was probably a real person (although this story about him might not be true).
He was a bard, which was an important job in Celtic society. Bards would tell stories, sing songs, give advice, remember history and travel the countryside telling news. Taliesin is the most famous of the Welsh bards, and some people even believe he was a friend of the legendary King Arthur of Britain.
Can you read the following story and then find the words in the wordsearch?
Some people say she was a witch, others say she was a Goddess,
but everyone agrees that she had special powers
There once was a woman named Ceridwen. Some people say she was a witch, others say she was a Goddess, but everyone agrees that she had special powers. Ceridwen had a son, called Morfran. Although Ceridwen was beautiful, clever and powerful, Morfran was ugly, slow and had no powers that anyone could tell. This made Ceridwen angry, as she wished for her son to become a powerful wizard.
She decided to help him. She started making a potion that would make Morfran the wisest man there was. The potion was complicated and would take a long time to complete - a year and a day. While the potion was cooking in the cauldron, it needed to be stirred constantly and wood needed to be added to the fire underneath, to keep the potion bubbling the entire time.
The potion was complicated and would take a long time to complete - a year and a day.
This was too much work for Ceridwen to do on her own, and Morfran wasn’t very helpful. So Ceridwen hired two people to help her - an old blind man called Morda to keep the fire going and a young boy called Gwion Bach to stir the cauldron.
The potion was very delicate, and there would only be enough for one person. Once one person tasted the potion, the rest would be useless. So Ceridwen kept a very close eye on the potion, on Morda and on Gwion Bach. After a whole year of staying awake to watch the potion, Ceridwen was very tired. Slowly, slowly she fell asleep on her stool, slumped over in the corner as Gwion Bach continued to stir the potion.
He was thinking about what he would do after his year of service was finished, when suddenly the potion bubbled and spat, and three drops of boiling liquid splashed onto his hand. Gwion cried out in pain, and quickly put his hand into his mouth to soothe the pain. Straight away, all the wisdom and power which was supposed to go to Morfran, ended up in Gwion Bach instead.
suddenly the potion bubbled and spat,
and three drops of boiling liquid splashed onto his hand
Ceridwen woke up with Gwion’s shouts and immediately worked out what had happened. She screamed in rage and raced towards Gwion Bach. He turned around and ran for his life, with Ceridwen following behind. Gwion, now with magical powers, changed into a hare to get away from Ceridwen faster.
But Ceridwen had magic too, and quickly changed into a greyhound, chasing Gwion the hare across the fields. Gwion ran as fast as his four legs could carry him, until he came across a stream. He immediately turned into a fish, hoping to get away from Ceridwen underwater. Ceridwen leapt into the air and became an otter, flashing through the water after Gwion the Fish.
Ceridwen leapt into the air and became an otter,
flashing through the water after Gwion the Fish
She was gaining on him, her snapping teeth getting closer and closer to Gwion’s tail fins. He jumped high out of the water, and turned into a wren, flying high into the air to escape her. The witch Ceridwen wouldn’t be outsmarted - she launched into the air as a hawk, chasing after him through the sky. Gwion the Bird was running out of energy, he had one more chance. He dropped to the ground and turned into a grain of wheat, so small he could barely be seen. But Ceridwen was an old witch, and cunning. She turned into a hen and immediately pecked at the ground, eating the grain of wheat that was Gwion Bach.
She turned into a hen
and immediately pecked at the ground, eating the grain of wheat that was Gwion Bach.
Nine months later, the witch Ceridwen gave birth to a baby boy. She wanted to kill him, in revenge for what was taken from Morfran, but when she looked into the baby’s eyes she saw such wisdom that she couldn’t bear to kill him. Instead, she placed the baby into a leather bag inside a coracle and floated him down a nearby river.
The next morning, a gentle man called Elffin was fishing, when he saw the coracle in the shallows. When he opened the leather bag, he found the baby who was gently singing in a beautiful clear voice. Elffin took the baby home to care for him, and called him Taliesin. When Taliesin grew up he became a wandering bard, bringing his wisdom and songs all across the land of Wales.
Now, it’s time for a wordsearch
Can you find the following words in the wordsearch on page 8 of your worksheets? One word will be missing. That’s the word that goes in the Answer Grid ⭐
Ceridwen
Taliesin
Morfran
Morda
Gwion Bach
witch
cauldron
potion
bubbled
greyhound
hare
fish
otter
wren
hawk
hen
grain
coracle
Elffin
bard
Wales
Do you know what a coracle is?
Ceridwen the witch puts Taliesin the baby into a small, light boat called a coracle, which is traditional in Wales. Coracles are for fishing or crossing streams and have to be light enough to be carried on your back. Each Welsh river has a slightly different style of coracle, so deal with different river features.
You can also find coracles in other countries, but they look a bit different to Welsh coracles.
Activity 6: Language
Many people from Wales speak Welsh, although not everyone.
Some Welsh people learn English first, as their main language, and then learn Welsh afterwards. Some other people learn Welsh as their first language, although they will learn English as well. Some Welsh people never learn Welsh or only speak a few words.
Nevertheless, the Welsh language is very important for many people. It’s important to protect languages like Welsh, in case people forget them. As speaking Welsh was banned for many years by the English, lots of people think it’s even more important to speak it now, to show the English that they’re not in charge anymore.
If you travel through Wales you’ll see that lots of road signs are in English and Welsh. You can see a few below.
Some place names are also in English and in Welsh.
Lots of place names in Wales are actually descriptions of what a place looks like, or what it’s famous for. For example, the seaside town of Aberystwyth is called that way because it is at the river mouth (“Aber” in Welsh) of the river Ystwyth. So Aber + Ystwyth = Aberystwyth.
Some place names in Wales have been replaced with English names. For instance, there’s a city called Abertawe (“mouth of the river Tawe”), but most people call it by its English name, Swansea.
Below are some Welsh words that are linked to land. Lots of these words can be found in Welsh place names. Take a look at page 9 of your worksheets. Can you match up the Welsh place names with their meanings in English, using the list of words to translate?
The place name which links to the translation with the star is the answer ⭐
Can you pronounce this town’s name?
There’s a village in Wales with the longest place name in Europe - it’s 58 letters long! The village is called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - can you pronounce that?
Although it looks very difficult to say, the name isn’t just a random selection of letters. It translates into English as, ‘Saint Mary's Church in a hollow of white hazel near the rapid whirlpool of the church of Saint Tysilio with a red cave’. Like most Welsh place names, it’s a description of what the village is like! Lots of people just shorten it to Llanfair PG though!
What’s for tea bach?
You have to try Welsh food! Lots of the flavours, or even the recipes might be a bit familiar but every Welsh dish has its own twist and often has a special name. For example, have you heard of cawl, Glamorgan sausages or Welsh rarebit?
The Welsh people are particularly famous for their sweet treats. Things like bara brith, Welsh cakes or crempogau are perfect for a little afternoon snack with a cup of tea. If you feel like baking something, make sure to check out some recipes below!
Do you know what the word bach means? Officially it means small or little, but people use it for children or family members to mean ‘sweetie’ or ‘little one’. Don’t be surprised if someone calls you ‘bach’ when you’re in Wales - it’s a nice thing!
People might also use it after your name, like ‘Rhydian bach, pass me the salt'. It’s pronounced with a soft ‘ch’ like ‘loch’ in Scotland. Don’t be surprised if it means something different in other places though! In Australia and New Zealand the same word (pronounced ‘batch’) means a holiday cottage!
Activity 7: Shopping lists
Rhys works in a cafe in Llandeilo High Street. Some of the local people come in regularly to have a cup of tea and some Bara Brith before they do their shopping. But they’ve all left their shopping lists on the table!
Can you help Rhys get the shopping lists back to the right person? They’re not labelled with names, but Rhys thinks he can remember what each person was planning on making. Take a look at the shopping lists below, then see Rhys’ notes on page 10 of the workbook.
Once you know which person is making which recipe, maybe you can work out whose shopping list is whose?
hint: try looking up the recipes on page 10 of the worksheets and seeing what ingredients they use
The answer for the Answer Grid is the name of the recipe with the star (it’s only the last word though!) ⭐
Congratulations!
You’ve reached the end. You should have 7 answers now. You can write them all in the Answer Grid to reveal the vertical word.
Have you heard of this before? If not, look it up on Google and find some pictures!
Do you want to check your answer?
Click the button below and type in your answer. If you’ve got it right, you’ll get a congratulations message. If nothing happens, check your answers and try again!