If you have a love of history yourself and want to be able to share this same love of the past with your kids, you might want to shy away from just having them read dry books or watch boring movies about things that happened before they were born. Rather, you may need to get creative with the ways you go about having history make an impact on your little ones.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for getting kids excited about learning history.
Start With History That Interests Them
When many kids think about history, they think about learning specific facts about specific times or events that don’t really interest them. However, if you ask your kids, there are likely all kinds of things about history that interest them, even if they don’t realize that it’s part of history. Knowing this, you should get them more interested in history in general by starting with the parts of history that interest them.
If you find that your kids love dinosaurs, start with this period of time in history. If they have an interest in airplanes, boats, or trains, introduce them to the times in history when these modes of transportation were flourishing. And if they know of someone from history that they are a big fan of, like Michale Jordan or knights of the roundtable, talk about the history of these people and the times in which they were living.
Focus On Their Connection To History
Something else that can help your kids feel more interested in history is to learn how certain things in history connect to them and to your family.
If you still have grandparents or great-grandparents living, consider speaking with them about what things were like when they were little. You can also learn more about where your family came from, what their culture was like, and how they may have lived. And, if you have family members who were associated with big historical events, like the Civil Rights Movement or the Mayflower, teach your kids about these people and this period of time.
Make History Hands-On
History doesn’t have to just be something that you read in a book or watch on a video. So many parts of history can be seen and even experienced to a degree by your kids. If you live close to a historical site or want to travel to one, this could be a great way to get some hands-on experience with history. You can also visit museums and other exhibits that show things from the past.
If you want to have kids who love learning about history, consider using the tips mentioned above to find ways to make it more interesting for them.
