Intrepid Explorers - The Complete Series (7 lessons)

Use this Famous Explorers KS1 History pack to introduce your class to some of the most intrepid explorers across history, including Ibn Battuta, Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong and a whole host of modern explorers! Your class will find out all about the lives and achievements of these significant individuals and why they are remembered today. They will also learn how we know about these famous explorers through investigating historical sources such as books, diaries, artefacts, film and photographs.

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was a 14th-century Moroccan explorer and is remembered today as one of the greatest travellers in history. Born in Tangier in 1304, he spent nearly 30 years journeying across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and parts of Europe, covering more than 75,000 miles. He wrote many detailed accounts of the people, cultures and places he encountered, which were later compiled into a famous book called The Rihla (The Travels). These accounts provide a valuable insight into the medieval world and the vast Islamic empire of his time.

This Ibn Battuta KS1 lesson introduces your class to this intrepid explorer. The included slideshow presentation for the teaching input establishes when and where he lived, and gives an overview of his life in a child-friendly and engaging format.

During children’s independent learning time, there is then the opportunity to turn your KS1 classroom into the world that Ibn Batutta explored with a location treasure hunt. Alternatively, children can explore more about Ibn Battuta’s life and travels through immersive drama activities. Fact Cards, a Record Sheet, Drama Cards and a Chat Mat are provided to support these activities, along with an easy-to-follow lesson plan.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who was born in Genoa in 1451. He is best known for his voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that opened up the Americas to European exploration. He set sail in 1492 from Spain and landed in the Caribbean, believing he had found a new route to Asia. Although he never reached Asia during his four voyages, his explorations helped establish lasting contact between Europe and the Americas, marking the beginning of centuries of both exploration and colonisation.

This Christopher Columbus KS1 lesson introduces your class to this now-controversial historical figure, exploring where and when he lived, with the included slideshow presentation giving an overview of his life and achievements. The lesson has a strong focus on oracy and chronology as children are challenged to sequence or retell the events from Columbus’ first voyage in chronological order. Differentiated Event Cards, Timelines, Timeline Cards, a Map, Voyage Cards and a Word Bank are all included in this Christopher Columbus KS1 lesson pack to support children’s independent learning.

Lesson 3

Sea Voyages Then and Now

Now that children know who Christopher Columbus was and when he lived, they will move on to explore what sea voyages were like in the 15th century, and how they compare with sea voyages today.

The included slideshow presentation recaps the information they learnt in the previous lesson about Christopher Columbus and his explorations, and moves on to describe what life was like aboard the Santa Maria (Columbus’ ship). Children will then consider what sea travel is like today and compare the two experiences.

Children bring their understanding to life by writing diary entries in role or building a model of the Santa Maria in their independent learning time. Differentiated Diary Entries, a Chat Mat, Challenge Cards, an Information Sheet and a Note Sheet are all included, as well as a detailed lesson plan.

Lesson 4

Neil Armstrong

Your KS1 children will jump forward in time now to learn about Neil Armstrong and the first Moon landing. The included slideshow presentation for the teaching input starts by looking at some of the advances in exploration that were made in the centuries after Columbus’ voyages. It then introduces them to Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer and the first person to walk on the Moon.

Born in 1930 in Ohio, Armstrong served as a naval aviator before joining NASA. On July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong famously stepped onto the surface of the Moon and declared, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." His achievement marked a major milestone in space exploration and made him an international hero. All this information and more is covered during the teaching input.

When children move on to their independent tasks, they will use photographs from the Apollo 11 moon landing (provided on Moon Landing Cards) and use these to consider how Neil Armstrong and the other astronauts might have felt at key points during the mission, using Emoticon Cards to support them. Alternatively, children can prepare and perform a role play. Additional resources to support their activities include Writing Templates, Fact Cards and a Challenge Card.  

Lesson 5

Technology and Space Exploration

This lesson looks at how explorations into space (propelled by the space race between the USA and Russia) caused lots of technological advances. The slideshow for the teaching input gives your class more information about the space race and how the desire to improve space travel prompted lots of new inventions, including many things children will be familiar with today, such as batteries, baby food and house insulation.

As they deepen their knowledge during their independent learning activities, children can use differentiated Record Sheets and corresponding Technology Cards to order some of these inventions from which they think are most important to least important. Alternatively, they can play a fun game of Space Tech Showdown (using the worksheet and Showdown Cards provided) to rank the impact of inventions due to space travel.

Lesson 6

Life in the 1490s and 1960s

The focus of this lesson is comparing and contrasting life at the time of Christopher Columbus’ sea voyages with life at the time of Neil Armstrong’s moon missions. The slideshow for the whole-class input uses a timeline to establish how far back in the past each time period was before exploring what was similar and different about life during the 1490s and 1960s.

Children can then enjoy a range of activities for adaptive learning, including considering statements on Discussion Cards, arranging Sorting Cards into the correct columns on a Sorting Sheet, creating a poster to compare the two time periods, or arranging differentiated Fact Cards into a provided Venn Diagram.

Lesson 7

Modern Explorers

The teaching input slideshow for the final lesson in this series starts by comparing and contrasting the lives and achievements of Ibn Battuta, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. It then goes on to explore some modern explorers, including:

• Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1975.

• Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel into space in 1992.

• Felicity Aston, the first person to ski alone across the Antarctic landmass using only muscle power in 2012.

They can then write fact files on their favourite explorer, using the differentiated Fact File sheets provided, or alternatively play a matching game using the Explorer, Equipment and Location Cards. Picture Cards and Word Mat are also provided to support this learning.

To bring all their learning together at the end of the scheme, an End of Unit Quiz is provided to assess their understanding of explorers through time.

Knowledge Organiser

This Year 1/2 History Knowledge Organiser is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to famous explorers across history, both within and beyond living memory. To encourage your children to think deeply about this topic, enquiry questions have been included for discussion.