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How to Bring History Alive for Kids

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

When you’re reading history from a textbook it can become a snooze-fest for your kids. History doesn’t have to be dry and boring. You can make it come alive with great books and add in hands-on activities to accompany them.

Be sure to enter the giveaway below, it ends on Thursday, June 29th 2017.

How to bring history alive for kids - have fun teaching history by adding more hands-on activities for kids like crafts, songs and field trips.

How to Bring History Alive for Kids

Create a Timeline

When you’re learning about a specific time period with different events, it can be hard to get a grasp of time. Add new people and important events to your timeline to help your child get a better sense of time to look at the overall picture.

Watch Documentaries

Whether cartoons or reenactments, my boys love documentaries particularly anything related to wars and weapons.

Add History Crafts

Get their hands dirty and have fun creating historical artifacts out of clay or play dough. Create your own Greek masks or pottery, art projects are a wonderful way to create things during various time periods.

Visit Local Historical Places

Depending on your location, you can bet there are some wonderful museums or historical sites that my be local to you. Take advantage of your location and see what kind of history you can pull of of your hometown. Take a trip? Take a look to see any attractions you may be able to visit as you travel to learn more about the history that is around you.

Read Living Books

Go beyond the textbooks and grab living books for your kids. Textbooks can be dry and boring for kids who have not yet developed a love for history. Living books show kids how people lived in a different time and helps them understand better when they can see a character living during different time periods and what problems they had to endure.

If you’re looking for living history books these picture books from Carole P. Roman, the If You Were Me and Lived In… series is a wonderful selection of history books for kids. These 5 books cover a variety of time periods but do a great job showing how life was during those time periods. My son who is more into science and only beginning to find a love for history really enjoyed these books. They are full of color and engaging. The books go over the daily life of a child, where they lived, what time of home, clothes they wore, chores or work they had to do. It also paints of picture of how they child would see the world around them as they discuss the customs and different classes of people at the time.


Carole P. Roman has published over 30 children’s books and has written several series of books. On top of the If You Were Me and Lived in…. history series, there is also a country series that looks at children in other cultures. My son really liked learning about children from around the world.

One grand prize winner will win all of the books in the history series, If You Were Me and Lived in…, a $180 value, while 10 more winners will win one book of their choice. This giveaway is open to readers in the United States or Canada excluding Quebec. This giveaway starts Jun 20th 7am EST to Thursday, June 29th 11:59pm EST.

 

Disclosure: I partnered with Carole P Roman and I received Compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Can’t wait to check out the living history books. Interested in Ancient Greece or Colonial America.

  3. I would like the American West. We just moved out west and want to learn some of the history.

  4. We would love to have the American West book since that is what we will be studying next

  6. I would like to receive Colonial America. We live near Williamsburg and Jamestown Virginia. Always enjoy learning more about the settling of America.

  10. I found history “boring” as a child, but now as an adult, I want to know it all. Is love to make history exciting and come alive for my children now!

  15. I would love the book on Ancient Greece! I hope to take them to visit present day Greece one day too.

  21. We’d love the If You Were Me and Lived in the American West! My kiddos are obsessed with it!

  24. Definitely the Anicent Greece. However Mayan Empire is a super close second!

  33. I would actually love to have any of these. Would like to try with my 13 year old autistic, 9 year old and 7 year old dyslexic. Maybe it would change their minds about reading and history. Thank you for doing this giveaway!

  36. I’d love to bring history alive for my kids. These tips are great and useful. Visiting historical places and watching documentaries are just fabulous ideas to bring the history alive.

  43. Hi, I would like the …the Middle Ages book. That would be perfect for our curriculum next year!

  46. My youngest son wants to learn Italian and we have loved learning about the Renaissance period, so the book about Renaissance Italy sounds like it would be fun to read.

  50. One of the first civilizations we learned about was the Mayans. It would be so neat, when my grandkids start homeschooling, to share the Mayan Empire book with them when they learn about this interesting civilization.

    Lisa Joy Starr

  51. We would love a book on the ancients! We will be studying that time period next year 🙂

  52. What a great way to kick off summer – before we all get next year’s main plans started too. Thanks!

  53. We would love to have the book about the American West to use this coming year.

    Lisa Joy Starr

  55. As a History geek, all of them sound amazing but my kids would be all about Ancient Greece followed closely by the Mayan Empire.

  56. I have a very reluctant learner and I believe that this series would make it fun for both of us !

  60. I’d love the American West! It would line up with what I already have planned for next year. I love the country ones too, to give some personability to geography!

  63. We will be studying Greek this coming year so the book about living in Ancient Greece would go well with our studies.

    Lisa Joy Starr

  64. I love history MUCH MORE now that I am teaching it. Look forward to browsing your curriculum.

  65. So many good books to pick from it is hard to pick. But I would have to go with the Colonial America to work with this fall.

  74. I would love any of your books. My first choice would be Colonial America, the book about Italy or Poland or any of the country or history books. Too many great ones to choose from!