This is a collection of videos to expose students to an overview of ancient history, organized in a way that they could be used as a spine or as supplements for another spine or curriculum. It's a bit unpolished as yet, and I'm hoping to add more resources to go with the videos (like free printables and such as I find them), but I wanted to get it up, unpolished or not, so that people can start to use this if they want.
AGE LEVEL: The general age level for this is Middle School through High School. Most of these videos could be watched by younger children, but some may have content that is a little over their head, or that otherwise might not be appropriate. See "Content Information" below for more info.
MAIN VIDEO SERIES USED
Crash Course
Crash course offers chronological broad overviews of history. While it is partially animated, the concepts and pace are aimed at adults (and I feel like overall it's suitable for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers). There are a few jokes that are inappropriate and might want to be skipped, especially if viewing while younger children are present. I've tried to note these but may have missed some (and if so, please tell me in a comment). Apart from these episodes, most episodes could be watched by younger children without issue though, though many will find this too fast-paced for younger children to follow.
Extra History
Extra Credits History is my favorite history series. It offers deeper dives into various subjects. The series is animated, and funny, but done respectfully as well, I think. It appeals to a wide age range...my 8 year old and my high schooler both enjoyed these equally.
TEDed
TEDed offers brief, annimated glimpses into various subjects, including history. It is, in general, safe for all ages of children...at least the videos listed here. I've linked to these from the TedEd site, not youtube, since TedEd videos also come with an online questionnaire students can use to quiz themselves, and links to places they can find more info on the subject. (NOTE: I may have accidentally linked some of these from YouTube directly, in stead of from the TedEd site, where that extra stuff isn't available, but if I did, just go to TedEd.com and type their title into the search...and then come back and tell me so I can fix it. Thanks.)
TICE Art HistoryThese are short animated videos on art history appropriate for all age groups.
WORKSHEETS AND ACTIVITIES
I've started to link a few "supplementary activities" related to the videos. Some are more appropriate to high school or middle school. I have
also listed a few "discussion question" worksheets I found for free for some of these videos. There isn't one for
every video, but I'd thought I'd list ones where I found them free. If
you are willing to pay for them, you can find many similar discussion
question sheets listed on Teachers Pay Teachers. As mentioned earlier,
TedEd videos also come with some additional resources.
CONTENT INFORMATION
VIOLENCE
Various
videos suggested here have descriptions of historical violence, but I felt
like this was depicted appropriately and not gratuitously. I do not usually make special note of violence in videos because it is so common. A certain
tolerance for historical violence is necessary for using this list.
SEX/NUDITY
There are references to sex in a few of these videos, but usually
handled subtly/well (nothing gratuitous or crude, with the exception of one joke in one Crash course video, which I've included a warning with).
Crash course does occassionally refer to sex as "skoodlypooting" and shows a blanket with feet hanging out. There's also a few videos
with historical artwork that depicts nudity (such as Greek statues), or very stylized cartoon nudity (along the lines of the centaurs in Disney's Fantasia...lacking detail).
PROFANITY
Most of these contain no profanity. A few of the Crash Course videos
contain a "Long A** time" joke (and then they say they aren't swearing,
because they mean a donkey). I try to note these in red.
VIDEO LIST
Below are the videos to watch in chronological order. I've organized this semi-chronologically by topic. Some topics take a day, some topics will take much longer. Videos labeled "series" contain a playlist of multiple videos. The videos listed on the left are ones that cover broad topics, and the videos in the bullet lists under them are extra videos related to this topic. I've listed key videos in bold, while unbolded videos are less essential are and can be skipped.
MESOPOTAMIA PART I - AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1
- Worksheet: Discussion Questions
ANCIENT INDIA PART I - INDUS VALLEY
Indus Valley Civilization: Crash Course World History #2
MESOPOTAMIA
I do not suggest using the Crash Course video for Mesopotamia because of the serious content issue in it, though if you did want to use it you can skip that part. Several alternative suggestions are listed below. CONTENT WARNING: Mesopotamia: Crash Course World History # has an inappropriate joke about a sex tape (it's from about 4:02-4:10...or go back to 3:55 to skip over any mention of sex at all).
(Suggestion I)
Ancient Civilizations of Mesopotamia This video is aimed at Elementary/Middle School, so may be a little "young" for High Schoolers. It's a little longer and goes more in depth on some of the civilizations, but shares a little less of the "progression of history" than Crash Course does.)
(Suggestion II)The Rise and Fall of Sumer - TedEdThis one is broad and covers a lot but is less engaging than the two above, in my opinion, but it is also less "childish" than Alt 1.
EGYPT
CONTENT WARNING: Mild "swearing" (long a** time joke)
KERMA & NUBIA/KUSH
Ancient Kerma and Nubia/Kush - Lost Kingdomas of Africa
Note: On this page scroll down to the history section, and I have a list of the sections of this video by minutes, if you want to watch just certain sections.
AND/OR WATCH
The Kingdom of Kush - TedEd (shorter than the above)
BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE
Note, this is a good time to stop and review many of the nations covered previously, as from this point we move away from the regions of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Levant and move into Greece and Rome and Asia. The reason for that is largely, a mysterious collapse of many of those civilizations around this time.
Both of the following videos are excellent, and cover enough that's different that it might be worth watching both, but they also overlap quite a bit so you might choose just one.
The Bronze Age Collapse SERIES - Extra History (1200 and 1150 BC)
This one, in addition to very thoroughly covering the Bronze age collapse, also briefly covers Levant/Mediterranean area civilizations of Egypt, The Hittites, Assyrian, and the Mycenaeans in it's first episode. I don't yet have another resource that covers the Mycenaeans well...so you might choose to watch at least the first episode just for that, if you don't watch the rest (though the whole thing is worthwhile).
AND/OR WATCH
Civilizations by Crash Course
This one covers the Bronze age Collapse much more briefly than the Extra History series above, and uses this as a springboard to talk about "what makes a civilization" and brings in some alternative ideas about that. If you've already watched the Extra History series, this one is worth adding on, just for that extra discussion.
GREEKS (AND PERSIANS)
The Persians & Greeks: Crash Course World History #5
Alexander the Great - Crash Course World History #8
- Archimedes - TedEd (Archimedes was a Greek Scientist who was Alexander the Great's teacher as a boy, and who's amazing Machines were later used against the Romans in the Punic Wars, so he could be included here or under the Punic Wars. The videos on the Punic Wars in the first section on Rome also mentions him.).
MONEY AND WRITING - A CROSS CIVILIZATION OVERVIEW
The Alphabet - Origins of Writing - Extra History
The History of Paper Money - Origins of Exchange - Extra History - #1
(NOTE: This one travels far out of our time frame, but does start in ancient times)
ANCIENT INDIA - PART II
Buddha and Ashoka: Crash Course World History #6
ANCIENT CHINA
2,000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confucius: Crash Course World History #7
Worksheet: Discussion Questions
THE ROMANS - PART I
The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or...Which Was It? - Crash Course World History #10
THE CELTS
The Rise and Fall of Celtic Warriors
CHRISTIANITY + JUDAISM
(Yes, I realize I need to cover Judaism much earlier...and would love suggestions of resources).
Christianity from Judaism to Constantine: Crash Course World History #11
- Worksheet: Discussion Questions
THE ROMANS - PART II
Extra History: 3rd Century Crisis (series)
Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History #12
The History of Rome in 20 Minutes (nice summary to re-cap)
CONTENT WARING: Brief mention of a rape, Renaissance paintings containing nudity.
OTHER PLAYLISTS
I have not vetted all these videos, but I found another interesting playlist for ancient history here.
OTHER ERAS?
No, I haven't done other eras like this. I did start notes for a video list aligned to Story of the World Volume II (The Middle Ages). It's really rough, not at all edited for "best videos" (some I hadn't even watched yet...just took a note of) and you'll only find "by chapter" section is after a "add later" section which is not as well sorted. But I thought you all might appreciate having this anyways so feel free to use it until I make something better (if that ever happens).
Why didn't I align the Ancient History list SOTW Ancient Times chapters too? Well, I made this list our second time around when I was doing history through a different curriculum that went by civilization, not so much chronologically.
MY OWN NOTES (Ignore this...it's my own notes about changes/updates I may want to do):
Nothing to note currently.
My oldest son had most of this book memorized at 3 years old - we read
it that much! In it a bat gets adopted by a family of birds, but eventually finds his mother. The story is so touching, the characters so vivid, and
the dialog is just wonderfully fun to read. 
We got four fun farm animal stories by Doreen Cronin in various Chick File kids meals (the others are 
, 
),
and there has never been a kids meal toy we liked better! We have read
these over and over and over again and it's always a joy. They are
hilarious. Click Clack Moo is the one I loved reading aloud the
most because I always made the "moo" deep and loud (although after a while
the kids usually wanted say this part...which of course is even better!)
I love ALL the 
