BBC Teach > Primary Resources > Geography KS1 / Geography KS2 > Explain This...

Human beings have developed all sorts of settlements or communities. Some big, some small, some close together and some far apart.

Pretty much every settlement, no matter how extraordinary or ordinary it is, can be classified as a city, a town or a village.

But what makes these places different?

This is Ava. She's going to help us discover more about villages.

Villages are small settlements with a small number of houses for a few hundred people.

Most villages are found in the countryside and may be surrounded by farms where food is produced and sold to people in towns and cities.

Some villages have a few shops.

And there may be a place of worship, like a church.

And there’s usually a school.

Thanks, Ava. It was great exploring Saintfield with you.

This is Sam and he’s in a town. Hi Sam!

A town is a larger settlement than a village. More people live in a town – normally a couple of thousand - so they need more homes and more shops.

You might even find some leisure facilities.

And often a town hall.

There are places of worship and of course, towns have schools too.

Thanks Sam for helping us explore Bangor.

Now, to our biggest settlement – a city. And here’s Isabel to help us with this one.

Cities are the largest kind of settlements and often have millions of people living in them.

All those people have to live somewhere so you’ll find lots of different kinds of homes. Some people live in houses, others in flats or apartments.

Cities usually have a lot to offer – shops, leisure facilities, restaurants, cinemas, museums, places of worship, many have a cathedral like this one.

And of course, you’re never far from a school in a city.

Thanks Isabel for showing us around Belfast.

It’s not just the people that live in cities, towns or villages that get to enjoy what each place has to offer.

Roads, railways and pathways connect them all, so people from villages can easily get to a city to shop and people who live in towns can easily get out to the countryside.

This short film looks at the key features of villages, towns and cities, helping pupils to investigate what makes these places different and what their common features are.

It has been developed to help pupils explore their local area and the wider locality to identify examples of the key features of villages, towns and cities in context.

This short film is a useful way for pupils to identify the main features of villages, towns and cities.

It covers the key features of each type of settlement and encourages pupils to think about how places are interconnected.

As the film progresses, teachers could ask pupils if they have seen examples of the features of villages, towns and cities described in the clip.

Points for discussion: · What is a locality? · What are the key features of a village? · What are the key features of a town? · What are the key features of a city? · How are villages, towns and cities connected? · Why is it important for these different settlements to be connected?

Suggested activities: After watching this short film, teachers could use a map of the United Kingdom to help pupils locate key cities, towns and villages in their local area and beyond.

Pupils could begin to explore and use keys and symbols on the map to find out how places are connected e.g. by road or rail.

Pupils could also start to think about how the physical geography of a place impacts on the development of settlements.

Pupils could start to explore the key features of villages, towns and cities and photograph examples of these key features in their local environment.

Following this, pupils could explore how localities change over time and think about whether cities in the future will have the same key features as cities in the past. This would help them to develop geographical enquiry skills.

Suitable for teaching geography at KS1 and KS2 in England and Wales, Early and 1st and 2nd level in Scotland and Foundation and KS1 in Northern Ireland.

This short film introduces the concept of climate to KS1 pupils. It explains the difference between weather and climate and shows the different climate zones around the world.

This short film introduces younger pupils to maps and how we use them. It covers compass points and orientation, common symbols and different kinds of maps.

In this short film, we explore the journey of a river from its source to the sea, exploring the key features of each leg of the journey.

This short film offers primary pupils a journey around the four countries that make up the United Kingdom: their capital cities, and a natural and man-made landmark from each.

In this short film we travel around the world, learning about the continents and oceans that make up our planet.

In this short animated film, we journey through the four seasons found in the United Kingdom: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

A short animation for KS2 pupils on the causes of earthquakes and what can be done to lessen their impact.

A short animation for KS2 pupils explaining the water cycle.