This History of Transport KS1 planning pack contains five engaging History lessons that explore the history of transport from the earliest canoes to the latest space missions! Your class will explore how inventions such as trains and motor cars transformed how people got around, and what impact this had on the world.

These lessons come fully planned and ready to deliver to your class. Each one has a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activity ideas, a PDF slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources, including worksheets, challenges, picture cards, games and more! All you need to do is download, teach and enjoy learning about the history of transport with your KS1 class! 

A Knowledge Organiser is available to support the learning in this scheme. It is included in the Complete Series download or can be purchased individually.

You may also like our Travel and Transport Topic Bundle – perfect if you're looking for a cross-curricular approach to your teaching! 

Transport Then and Now

In this first lesson, children begin by identifying different types of transport, and talking about which they have used. They will discover that boats were the first type of transport to be invented thousands of years ago. The invention of the wheel then led to animal-drawn carts and carriages.

Children will learn that it is only in the last few hundred years that many of the types of transport we have today were invented. In their independent activities, they will sort types of transport according to whether they were invented within or beyond living memory.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack includes a plan, a PDF slide show and a range of engaging activity ideas and resources.

View Lesson 1

The Invention of the Train

Children will learn about the invention of the first locomotive and what they were used for. They discuss the differences that trains and railways made to people’s lives, the towns they lived in and the kind of holidays they might take.

In their independent activities, children will compare train travel in the Victorian era with modern-day train travel using photographs as sources.

An easy-to-follow plan, a set of PDF slides for the teaching input, and printable resources are all included within this lesson pack.

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The Invention of the Car

In this lesson, your class discover the process that led up to the invention of motor cars and the people who used them.

Children will be encouraged to think about the reasons people owned cars, and how the invention changed people’s lives. They also compare the ways cars have changed from the early 1900s to more modern cars.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack includes a plan, a PDF slide show and a range of engaging activity ideas and resources.

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The Invention of the Aeroplane

In this lesson, children are introduced to the Wright brothers and their fascination with flying. They will learn about their inventions and how this led to many different uses for planes, including the World Wars and passenger flights.

In their independent activities, they will demonstrate their knowledge by completing or writing a newspaper article about the first engine-powered flight.

An easy-to-follow plan, a set of PDF slides for the teaching input, and printable resources are all included within this lesson pack.

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Travelling to the Moon

In this final lesson, children will learn that space travel has been achieved in living memory. They will focus on the events of the first moon landing.

In their independent activities, children will demonstrate their understanding by putting events in chronological order. In the alternative activity, children work as a class to ask and answer questions using the Teach Me, Tell Me game.

This ready-to-teach lesson pack includes a plan, a PDF slide show and a range of engaging activity ideas and resources.

View Lesson 5

This Year 1/2 History Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement our History 'Events Beyond Living Memory' strand. It is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to this scheme of work. Enquiry questions have been included to encourage your children to think like a historian within this topic.

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