“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything,” claims Michael Crighton. Well, we can all agree that studying history is important, but getting your kids hooked on history? – Now, that’s a challenge.
I have to confess that as a child I was completely uninterested in history. I thought it was bo-ring! And the problem was magnified by the fact that I went to public schools where they teach social studies instead of history, so the bits and pieces I consumed never made any sense.
However, I was blessed with a dad who loves history and geography, so he tried valiantly to instill a love for history in us children, as well. He dragged us around to battlefields, museums, national parks, and historical sites. We have endless photos of my siblings and me sitting on cannons. I didn’t really care at the time, but somehow those family trips shaped my internal images of history and made a life-long impact. After a while those memories began to take root in my mind.
As an adult, I discovered the joy of reading historical fiction and the fun of tracing family genealogy. Studying about real people in their historical context suddenly made me curious about the actual historical facts and – voila!
There I was hooked on history.
It took a ridiculously long time to sink in, but eventually I’ve adopted Dad’s appreciation for studying the past.
Which led me to thinking – how can I get my own kids hooked on history? Um…maybe NOW before they become adults?
Yes, mama, you CAN instill a love for history in your kids! Here’s how.
7 Ways to Get Kids Hooked on History
1. Tell Them Stories
The past is much more exciting when it relates to real people in context. This is especially true when the history is about people they know! Tell your kids stories about your own childhood and your parents. Recite stories you’ve heard about their great-grandparents or other relatives. When grandma and grandpa come to visit, ask them to tell stories about their childhood, too! Show family photos and relate their lives to historical events in living memory like World War 2 or the Gulf War. In other words, show your kids how history is what happens to real people, not just the characters in the textbooks.
2. Read Historical Fiction, Memoirs, & Primary Sources
Reading is the hook that drew me into history! There are so many incredible historical picture books for young kids like The Story of Ruby Bridges that help them visualize snapshots of historical moments. Plus, there are wonderful historical fiction and biography book series for upper elementary age, too. For example, the classic American Girl Doll Series, the Dear America books, and the Who Is series of chapter books. There are also fabulous memoirs like Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret that make pieces of history come alive. And don’t forget to challenge older kids with primary sources like those collected in A Texas Sampler. We’re big fans of Usborne history books in our house, too.
3. Explore Ancient Civilizations
I don’t know why, but there is something truly fascinating about many of the ancient civilizations. Whenever I’ve taught kids about Ancient Egypt, they are captivated by the culture and curiosities of this magnificent people. Same thing when we have studied the Greeks, Romans, Persians, or Ancient China. Other remarkable cultures of antiquity closer to home are the Olmecs, Incas, Aztecs, and Mayas. Learning about these obsolete cultures and peoples sparks the imagination and broadens a child’s mind with so many possibilities. They’re just really cool!
4. Put History into Context
If possible, put history into context by studying it in sequential order and using time-lines. Children often have a hard time keeping up when we study random historical events out of context and out of order. Motivations for events often don’t make much sense unless we understand what was going on in the world around the characters at the time. So, teach history comprehensively, and let kids absorb the context as well as the specifics. Use timelines and relate history to familiar events like Bible stories that occurred concurrently. This will help kids understand how it all fits together and help them get hooked on history.
5. Visit Historical Sites
My Dad was really good at this one! At every opportunity, take your kids to visit museums, historical sites, living history reenactments, and battlefields. Whenever you plan to travel across country for a family vacation, think about historical sites along the way that you could stop and visit. Many parks offer special events such as pioneer days or Native American heritage days that will make those cultures come alive. Kids learn so much when they get to dip their own soap or pretend to be living in a tipi. Remember, most kids learn best by doing. So, get them hooked on history through live events.
If you can’t actually go to any historical sites, fire up the internet! YouTube is full of virtual fieldtrips to many fabulous historical places. Kids can visit Plimoth Plantation where the Pilgrims landed, explore the home of the Vikings, or go back in time to Ancient Babylon! Try watching historical, kid-friendly documentaries to go along with books you’re reading and see if that captures their interest!
READ: The National Museum of the Pacific War – a Guide for Families
6. Cultivate Curiosity Though Hands-On Play
Kids learn by playing. Just sitting learning about history in a chair is boring, right? All those dates and facts, blah! So, shake it up with some hands-on history. Invest in toys like Playmobil, who carries a whole line of historical toys like Ancient Romans, Ancient Egyptians, Vikings, Castles and knights, and others. My kids love acting out history stories with their Playmobil sets.
As you learn about tools and inventions of the past, let your kids try to recreate them. Recently, while studying the Age of Exploration in the 1500s, we discovered and made a quadrant. You can print our quadrant pattern here. This was so much fun! There are recipes you can cook together, art you can make, crafts to complete, and games to imitate. Pinterest is full of free and easy history ideas for kids. So, get them hooked on history by making the past come alive!
7. Make Your Own Family Tree
A fun way to learn history is to study the time-periods as they come up on your family tree. Many history books recommend doing this, but they offer you only a chintzy little tree going back two or three generations. You can do better than that! Doing family research online can be free and easy. And it’s so much fun! Great-grandpa served in World War 2? What was that? Look at the dresses they wore in the 1940s! You will run into ancestors who immigrated, and you can wonder why and learn about their homeland, too. Kids will naturally be more interested in a historical event or location if they know they had a relative who was there and lived through that moment. Using your family tree makes history personal and approachable.
Hook ’em on History!
So, yes! It is possible to get your kids hooked on history and so very important, too. It may not take root just yet, but these memories will establish the foundation for all your child’s historical understanding and one day just might blossom into a full-on passion for history! Win!
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