Childhood Then and Now

These exciting, practical lessons will encourage your class to become historians as they learn about childhood and how it has changed over time, from toys crazes to schools to homes.

With detailed lesson plans, including three-way differentiation, slideshow presentations and a range of engaging printable resources, this KS1 'Childhood Then and Now' scheme provides all the teaching resources you need to deliver these fun History lessons. Your class will look at toys, homes, clothes and loads more as they discover how childhood has changed over the years.

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Toys from the past

During the first lesson in this series, your class will be introduced to characters from different eras and the toys they liked to play with. They will explore different toys, examining and discussing how they have changed over time. They will be encouraged to share their own opinions on different toys as well as ask questions to find out more.

In the activity part of this lesson, your class will either look at toys before drawing and describing them. Or alternatively, they will have the opportunity to interview some adults and find out what their favourite toys were when they were young.

View Lesson 1

Childhood Crazes

In the second lesson of this series, your class will explore different crazes that have interested children. They will find out about recent crazes as well as historical ones. They will be encouraged to discuss if they recognise any of the crazes and share their experiences of the toys.

During the activity part of this lesson, your class will match picture cards to their descriptions or make a poster for a popular toy.

View Lesson 2

Homes

Your class will look at different types of homes and discuss their similarities and differences, before comparing them to their own homes. They will go on to explore and discuss how the interiors of the homes have changed over time. Finally, they will think about what the main difference is between their home and a Victorian home.

The lesson activities challenge your class to compare their own living room to a picture of a historical living room or to order picture cards from oldest to newest.

View Lesson 3

Schools

Your class will learn what schools were like in different eras. They will compare how schools have changed and think about how they are the same. They will use photographs as their main source of evidence and be encouraged to explain how and why they came to a particular answer. The lesson ends with the children thinking about the rules and consequences they have in their classroom before comparing them to a Victorian classroom.

This lesson's activities challenge your class to sort description cards into groups and think about similarities and differences between school days in different eras.

View Lesson 4

Clothes

Your class will explore how clothes have changed from Victorian times to now. They will be encouraged to think about how practical the clothes are for activities they enjoy doing.

Your class will identify similarities and differences between the clothes as they ask and answer questions. The lesson ends with the children thinking about which colours they like to wear and which colours they don’t. They will find out that the idea that pink is a girls’ colour is very recent.

View Lesson 5

Entertainment

In the final lesson of this series, your class will explore how leisure activities have changed over time. Your class will think about what they like to do for fun, while they explore popular activities in the past. This lesson and series concludes with an end of unit quiz.

View Lesson 6