What are the notable similarities and differences across different periods of history? How do they compare with the present?
We are in the process of reviewing our existing historical comparison workshops, but the aim remains the same: to appreciate the similarities and differences between different periods in history and/or the present. Enquiries welcome to discuss how we can support you.
Expand the sections below to find out more about our Historical Comparisons workshops.
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Overview
Duration
45–90 minutes
Maximum Number
15 children per group
Suggested Key Stages
KS2–KS4
Workshops
A Child's Life Through the Ages KS2
Duration: 90 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
What responsibilities and how much free time did children have in the past? What do we know from historical records about how the young people in the Museum’s buildings lived and how else can we find out about their lives? Did they go to school?
There will be a chance during this session to have a go at playing some games, as life was not only hard work!
We’ll start the session thinking about everyday life in Anglo-Saxon England and the role of children. Then we will go to explore a couple of buildings to see what they can tell us about how children lived at different times in the past. Finally there is a chance to test out the games and we go outside for this element if at all possible.
Images give an interesting insight into the role of a child and some give details of possible games and free time pursuits as well as the tasks everyone, including children, had to do. Looking at the layout in houses also gives us an idea of personal space, possessions and everyday life.
This session includes some activities from our previous games session with new elements.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
A Child’s Life Through the Ages workshop (591Kb, PDF)
Clothing Through the Ages KS2
Duration: 90 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
What did normal people, like you and me, wear? How was it made? Who made it and where? All these questions and more will be covered. In addition pupils will have a chance to try on some historic clothing and think about the colours available with natural dyes.
In this session we will look at clothing in the Anglo-Saxon period, think about the materials and have a go at some of their techniques such as finger loop braiding and spinning. We will also go on a walk through the site to explore areas of production and compare the Anglo-Saxon clothing with what was worn in a later period.
Today we take for granted access to cheap clothing made from a range of materials and we tend not to mend items of clothing or expect them to last too long. Of course things were very different in the past.
Our Historic Clothing Project has created carefully researched Anglo-Saxon, medieval, Tudor, Stuart and Victorian clothing. We’ll look at design – including elements of headdress and footwear – and have a go at preparing wool.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Clothing Through the Ages workshop (589Kb, PDF)
Farming Through the Ages KS2
Duration: 90 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
So many of our ancestors were directly involved in working on the land. In this session we’ll consider the conditions they worked under, the tools available to them, what they farmed, and seasonal tasks. We will go into a farmhouse, visit farm buildings and see the animals at the Museum.
The focus of this session is farming in Anglo-Saxon England; we’ll begin by looking at historical evidence, read a dialogue and play a game to apply the pupil’s recently acquired knowledge about choice and chance in farming at this time. Then we’ll explore different areas of production around the museum e.g. the woodland, fields, orchard, farmhouse and shaw.
Finally there is a chance to hold and have a go with a couple of simple tools that were essential elements of any farm. We will consider the seasonal jobs that men, women and children would have done in the past. Tools will be matched to the jobs that they were used for, we’ll think about the animals and produce that came from them, and also consider difficulties and risks of farming.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Farming Through the Ages workshop (589Kb, PDF)
Food Through the Ages KS2
Duration: 90 minutes*
Maximum numbers: 15 children
What would have been on your plate in the past? What ingredients were available? We’ll investigate different rooms in the house used for food production, the gardens and means of cooking. You will also have the chance to cook a simple bread recipe with our workshop leader and taste what you have cooked.
We will start by considering the food available to the Anglo-Saxons using a dialogue, and prepare some dough. We will leave this to rise whilst going on a walk to explore where different elements of food came from. When we return we will cook and eat the bread, try to solve some riddles and learn some more the diet of our ancestors.
We’ll also look at when the main meal of the day was and what it would have been. We talk today about seasonal produce, but this had a whole different meaning in the past and by looking in our gardens it is apparent what people would have had to eat at that time of the year. Other food could be preserved and added to the diet of our rural ancestors out of season.
* A 45 minute “mini” version of this workshop is available.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Food Through the Ages workshop (614Kb, PDF)
Survival in the Past KS2–KS4
Duration: 45 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
What do we actually need to survive? Is it really any different to what people needed in the past?
In this workshop your group will think about basic human needs (warmth, shelter, food…) and how those needs can be met, today and in the past. Considering the natural resources that our region has to offer and how our ancestors used them at specific times the group will explore why we live in a house and why houses are the shape they are.
As well as looking at construction techniques there will be time to consider the energy and calories people working physically would have needed in comparison to us today.
Tell us whether your focus is Anglo-Saxon/Medieval/Tudor/Victorian or cross period and we will highlight this era of history for your group.
The 45-minute session takes the form of a guided walk with some hands-on activities.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Survival in the Past workshop (613Kb, PDF)
Health & Medicine Through the Ages KS2
Duration: 90 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
So you woke up in the past feeling a bit poorly. What did you do? Who could you go to for a remedy or treatment, and, crucially, would it do you any good? In this session there will also be the chance to mix up a remedy, compare some different medical ideas and contrast them with what we know to work today.
The main emphasis of this session is looking at health and medicine in Anglo-Saxon England; we’ll listen to a remedy and then make it ourselves. Then we’ll take a walk outside to see where the plants used grew.
Finally the pupils will work as historical investigators to explore a home in relation to the health and wellbeing of its inhabitants.
As a group we’ll read out a recipe and look at the properties of the different ingredients. Then we’ll mix up the remedy and discuss what we think of it. Also we’ll take the chance to look around a home and use our knowledge to think about the risks for its inhabitants, including what they could have done to minimise the risks.
We’ll also discuss our sources of information for this area of life.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Health & Medicine Through the Ages KS2 workshop (590Kb, PDF)
Health & Medicine Through the Ages for GCSE KS4
Duration: 90 minutes
Maximum numbers: 15 children
Did medical understanding really improve over time? Were there any crazy Tudor cures that actually worked? Why was too much education though to be bad for a Victorian woman’s health?
Join the Historical Home Inspectors as they visit a number of houses to explore the living conditions of our ancestors and discover the answers to these questions and more.
Focusing on themes of change and continuity this 90-minute workshop enables pupils to look at the conditions in which average people lived and consider the impact this would have had on their health and hygiene. As they move around the site, your group will be encouraged to compare and contrast between different time periods, exploring health issues linked to housing and sanitation while using the buildings to highlight the social impact of key events such as the Black Death.
Journey from the early medieval period, through the changes wrought by the Black Death to learn about and create a Tudor remedy, culminating in a visit to our Victorian cottages to consider the impact of urbanisation.
Through a series of tasks and games our workshop leaders will enable you to explore the ideas people had regarding the causes and treatment of illness, and the way this has developed over time.
How to Book
Please call our schools team on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Risk Assessment
Health & Medicine Through the Ages for GCSE workshop (589Kb, PDF)
