Family Travel - everything on holidays and travel with kids

everything on holidays
and travel with kids

History

Practicalities

Getting Organised

Getting More Out of It

History

Knowing a little about the history of the country that you are visiting is essential to appreciate all those castles, standing stones, country house, churches and palaces that you might encounter. In some countries it also helps to explain why there are armed guards on every corner. Co-ordinating trips to complement school topics is a wonderful wy to bring history to life. In British schools, the National Curriculum breaks down into:

AT1 Knowledge and understanding of history - The development of the ability to describe and explain historical change and cause and analyse different features of historical situations.

AT2 Interpretations of history - the development of the ability to understand interpretations of history.

AT3 The use of historical sources - The development of pupils' ability to acquire evidence from historical sources and form judgements about their reliability and value.

Programmes of Study are
(i) Change and continuity: understanding that history is concerned with change, knowing about and distinguishing between different kinds of change.

(ii) Causes and consequences: knowing about and understanding the causes and consequences of historical events and developments.

(iii) Knowing about and understanding: the key features of past situations and the distinctive characteristics of past societies.

AT3 is the main relevant area (at its most basic evidence is for example that kings have luxurious accommodation, castles are designed to be defended against attack etc), though issues of change and continuity are also evident from places families might visit. If children already have some background information (on crusading knights if visiting Rhodes, of ancient Romans at all kinds of places from Hadrian's Wall to Tunisia) see the buildings and sites gives a useful three-dimensional quality to their knowledge and will probably help with AT1 - understanding of history.

There are a number of relevant titles in the Holiday Reading Section, notably under Vikings, Celts, Romans and native American Indians. In addition there are:

General

Blue Rainbows: Then and Now, Transport Helena Ramsay, Evans, £3.99 5+
An information book for early readers, from horse and cart to the space shuttle, three children from different periods in the last hundred year tell readers about the variety of transport they use.

Journeys: Discovered through History A&C Black, £4.50 5-7 years
Part of a series on history, this one focused on the theme of travel.

Travel and Transport Then and Now Alastair Smith, Usborne, £5.99, 4+
16 pages.

The Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland OUP, £12.99, 8+
‘Copiously illustrated, and written simply and directly, this is an outstanding history book,' said a review in 1999. ‘It also counters the Anglo-centrism that is still prevalent in much of children's history publishing'. Useful for travels round the countries covered, it looks at the everyday lives of people as well as key moments of change and discoveries.

The Big History Action Pack £12.99, English Heritage [Suppliers] 8-12 years
A useful aid if planning to take children anywhere historical in the UK, a 75-minute video and booklet, aimed at 8-12 years. It mixes entertainment and education, with visits by people including Bill Oddie, Dave Benson Phillips and Stuart Miles to key sites. There are also activities like preparing Tudor treats, finding out about pets in the past and what went into medieval medical potions.

The Very Bloody History of Britain John Farman, Random House, £6.99
Irreverent but informative history from the Celts on.

Books on Specific Subjects/Periods

What Were Castles For? Usborne £3.99 6+
Starting point history with sometimes humorous text.

Who Were the First People? Usborne £2.99 6+
Starting point history with sometimes humorous text.

Knights & Castles Usborne, £4.99 7+
Time Traveller series with action drawings of life in the past plus information

Living in Castle Times Usborne, £3.99 7+
A period of history seen through the eyes of a child.

Living in Prehistoric Times Usborne, £3.99 7+
A period of history seen through the eyes of a child.

Medieval World, Usborne £12.99 8+
One of the World History titles, including the major events of the period and showing how people lived.

History's Tavellers and Explorers Philip Ardagh, Belitha Press, £7.99, 8+
A humorous and factual approach looking at the experiences of travellers including Marco Polo, Captain Cook, Magellan and Drake, Isabelle Eberhardt, Hernando Cortes, Burke and Wills, Livingstone and Stanley, Amundsen and Scott, Ibn Battuta, Columbus and Cabot and Mary Kingsley.

Make This Cathedral/Castle/Medieval Town/Medieval Village/Medieval Port Usborne, £4.99 9+
Cut-out models.

Stone Age Sentinel Usborne, £4.50 10+
History made up as a tabloid newspaper.

Horrible Histories: Cut-throat Celts Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Gorgeous Georgians Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Measly Middle Ages Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Slimy Stuarts Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Vicious Vikings Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Vile Victorians Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Blitzed Brits Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors Terry Deary, Scholastic, £3.99, 8-12 years
Horrible Histories Specials: Dark Knights and Dingy Castles Terry Deary, Scholastic, £7.99, 8-12 years.