If you’re teaching the Aztecs, or the Maya - or both...

... read on! Our core work is Living History team visits (our ‘flagship’ Aztecs/Maya presentations) providing superb curriculum enrichment activities in schools and museums, whether you’re delivering the Aztecs/Mexica or Mayan Civilisation (KS2: World History/Study of a past society/Study of ‘a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history’), The Aztecs and the Spanish Conquest 1519-1535 (GCSE OCR/SHP 2016 syllabus), Chocolate (IPC or Edison Learning units), Hola Mexico (Cornerstones Curriculum) or as part of your school’s Creative Curriculum. But that’s just the start...

Aztecs or Maya? Or both?

We specialise in BOTH! For many years our programmes focussed on 1) Mexico generally, then 2) the Aztecs, then 3) two separate programmes, and now 4) our flagship programme combines BOTH civilisations in one session. Note though that on the day we carefully put extra emphasis on whichever topic you are delivering in your school.

Team visits

To find out more, for the Aztecs follow the links on the right hand side. In ‘Our flagship programmes’ you’ll find info on what we cover in our main Aztecs presentation, as well as links to a slideshow, a brief video clip and a downloadable brochure. For the Maya click on ‘Our programme on the Maya’ in the r/h menu.
To read testimonials from teachers and pupils on Mexicolore team visits, follow the link below...) To find a list of all schools we’ve ever worked in (and when), click on ‘Schools that we’ve visited’ (Teacher’s Page, Aztecs section).
For the most up-to-date information, please email us and we’ll send you ‘the blurb’!

Visit Testimonials

Our Mexicolore website

This site is constantly checked, added to, and updated. Based in London, you’ll find links to an exceptional range of formal institutions and informal groups, each with some area of expertise on either the Aztecs/Mexica or the Maya, many of which are perfectly suitable for children to explore. Note that we have our own Aztecs for Kids microsite (click on KIDS at the very top of this page): this is packed not just with activities for children but with very carefully researched - and illustrated - information on the Aztecs. Try it out for yourself!
Feedback from St. Bernadette’s RCP School, Farnborough (2013): ’We love your website - so much information. A great help for busy teachers and useful for the children and their research projects.’

Website feedback

Take advantage...

... of the work others - including many teachers - have put into preparing teaching materials on the Aztecs. Browse through the Resources pages to get some ideas. If you’re daunted by how to pronounce Aztec names and other words, listen to our Pronunciation guide (see ‘Aztec Language’, in the Aztecs section). If you’re looking for images of Mexican masks to kickstart some artwork, go to our Masks photo gallery (go to the Aztecs section, then click on Mexican Masks, right). If you’re interested in reading answers from world experts to some of the questions YOUR children have been asking (on the Maya as well as the Aztecs), explore our unique Ask the Experts pages. And so on...

Our Aztec Resources section

Background to the site

This site is aimed primarily at teachers and pupils studying the Aztecs and the Maya in schools in the UK, though it is already proving valuable to academics, cultural institutions, researchers, students and the general public world wide - anyone with some interest in the Aztecs and/or the Maya. All the material has been uploaded in good faith on the understanding that it is used strictly for educational/non-commercial purposes. The site, with some quite personal touches, grows directly from over 38 years of visits made to schools and museums throughout England by Graciela and Ian, the founding Mexicolore team. Many thanks to all those teachers and children who continue to make us so welcome in their schools - and who have become good friends. Enjoy...!

Who we are

NOTE on FEEDBACK to the site

We encourage visitors to leave comments, and we normally check all incoming website feedback every day: if anyone should ever leave an inappropriate comment, we endeavour to delete it immediately.

Chocolate and the IPC

If your school follows the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), all our programmes include plenty of information and artefacts relating to chocolate and its importance in ancient Mexico. We now have a steadily expanding section entirely on the history of chocolate...

Our History of Chocolate section

Maya Civilisation

The Aztecs were the last in a long line of advanced civilisations in Mexico going back several thousand years. They learned much from previous peoples, including the Maya. In our current (2018) flagship programme on Ancient Mesoamerica we include plenty of references not only to the Aztecs but also to the Maya, from their calendar systems to their version of the ancient ritual ballgame, from their invention of zero to the chac mool reclining figure that inspired the sculptor Henry Moore, from the Feathered Serpent god to their gourd trumpets...

The Aztecs and the Maya...

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