If you thought learning history was all
about memorizing facts, think again. My kids surprised me recently when they
asked me about the Renaissance. This caught me by surprise because they are
still a long way away from Renaissance. On probing, I found out that they came
across this while playing one of the penguin games that
featured paintings from the Renaissance period.
This made me realize that anything, even
history, can be turned into an exciting learning opportunity. It is not just a
story about people, places and events from the past. It tells us how the past
has shaped the present. All that we have today is a result of what happened.
Take for example, the subject history when
taught in classrooms with dates to be memorized was boring. This is the past
and we have learnt from it, understood why it didn’t work, and have come up
with new ways to make the subject exciting.
So what are the ways in which history can
be made fun for kids?
“Point Park,
Lookout Mountain TN” by framechaser23 is
licensed under CC BY 2.0
Games
Apart from the penguin games I talked about
earlier that sparked an interest in Renaissance in my kids, there are many
other apps that make history interesting. For historical figures and the
American Revolution there is Ansel and
Clair: Paul Revere's Ride, for battles and wars there are Marie Antoinette & The Independence War
and Empire Total War, and for
politics you can consider The Political
Machine 2012.
Movies
If your kids love watching movies, there
are plenty that you could show them like Night
at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Gettysburg, The Great Escape, The
King's Speech, Lawrence of Arabia and Saving
Private Ryan, John Adams (mini series), JFK,
Forrest Gump and Gangs of New York.
I would recommend you watch the movies before the kids do or sit with them
during them, as they may not all be suitable for younger children. Not all
movies portray history accurately, and that is something you should keep in
mind too.
Museums
“National Museum of Natural
History” by angela n. is
licensed under CC BY 2.0
Take it from reel to real, and visit the
National Museum of American History or American Museum of Natural History! Field
trips to nearby historical
towns and museums are great ways to engage kids in learning history. Your
own neighborhood may have historical buildings that you could visit. By setting
up the Field Trip app on your smartphone, you can receive alerts when you are
in the vicinity of interesting places that are categorized under Historic
Places & Events.
Books
If we must bring books into this, why not
get kids to read biographies and autobiographies? Even better, give them a
choice of historical
figures, if possible from the era you are teaching them about, and ask them
to choose the person about whom they would like to read. It is more likely they
will take an interest in reading, if they play a part in choosing what they
want to read.
But wait, it need not stop at reading. Why
not pit kids against each other with a game of 20 questions? With each one
assuming the character of a person they have read about and the other trying to
guess the name of the historical figure.
Act!
Kids can take it to the next level and act
the characters out. They can also put together a few easy costumes. It is a
whole lotta fun! Kids can enact a scene from the life of Abraham Lincoln, Alexander
the Great, Amelia Earhart, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. The latter
got us a ringside view of the moonwalk! You can also find out if there are any
history buffs who gather together for battle reenactments and watch them.
These are just a few ways to put the spark
back in history and they sure beat the textbook route, don’t they?
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