Kids can learn to love history. Alot of the dislike of history is really a dislike of memorizing lists of dates and people that have no meaning to them. As a parent you can give those dates and names meaning and make learning fun.


You can easily create a set of ‘memory cards’, using three cards for each historical person; one with the name, another with birth and death dates and a third with the event that put them in the history books. Your child will rapidly learn to associate the names, dates, and events while having a fun time of it.
Using the same idea as the game of bingo, you call out a name and using the cards having a date on them can be exciting and fun. The cards can be varied by using names, or dates or events. This is a great game for a study session, enjoyable as well as quickly helping to associate the right names and dates.

Charades using the characters from history can make a child really think about what the character did, when and how they did it. Try varying the game by eliminating certain words that are too distinctive, making the game more fun.

Younger children frequently enjoy putting on a play for their parents. Help them write a script that will accurately describe the time, and event. This will help to bring an event to life for them, and provide fun memories and photo opportunities!

Have a discussion about the reasons behind a certain event. What did the people think when something happened? Why did it happen when it did. You can even encourage your child to write a fictionalized account of their life if they were there to witness the events, integrating writing skills into the lesson.

Adding historical references into everyday life is another easy way to incorporate the learning process into everyday life. Try finding a recipe for dinner that originated near an event. A great idea is to have the children make a newspaper detailing the events that happened on a certain day (also helping them learn about journalism…) or have them do a report using a chalkboard instead of paper. Anything you can think of that helps bring history to life for them, will make it so much easier for a child to memorize the dates and people they need to know to succeed in school.

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