How different were the toys that our grandparents' played with? - Presentation

The curriculum for History in Year 1 under the National Curriculum for England encourages children to explore the concept of chronology and the changes within living memory, particularly focusing on the differences between their own childhood experiences and those of their grandparents. The programme is designed to help children understand the vast changes in lifestyle over the past 50 to 60 years, including the types of toys that were played with, the nature of school days, shopping habits, birthday celebrations, and daily meals. To achieve this, the children are taught to appreciate the difference between 'long ago' and 'very long ago', create timelines to capture recent events, and to use vocabulary that describes the passage of time.

As part of their learning journey, children are invited to engage with various activities that help them to compare and contrast the past with the present. They create timelines, handle artefacts, and use different sources of evidence to understand the past, such as photographs, diaries, and speaking with someone who lived during that time. This approach helps them to question the reliability of different types of evidence and to develop an understanding of historical enquiry. Additionally, children learn about significant cultural references from the past, such as the Beatles, the moon landing, and the first McDonald's in England. The learning experience is enriched with vocabulary specific to the era, and the children are encouraged to ask their grandparents about their childhood experiences, to gain first-hand insights into the past.