Learning activities

Starter activities

Starter activity Sa (Links to Ma or Mb)

Start by discussing and sharing memories of school trips that the children have been on. Talk about where the trips were to, how the children got there, what they did/saw on these trips and their feelings. Try to link the discussion to a recent trip or one the children are undertaking linked to the Victorians.

Starter activity Sb (Links to Ma)

Show the children photographs of famous London tourist attractions. Can the children name them? Why are they famous/what can people see there? Has anyone ever visited them?

Starter activity Sc (Links to Ma)

Show the children a picture of the Millennium Dome. Does anyone know what this building is called? Has anyone ever visited it? Tell the children about why it was built and how it was designed as a tourist attraction.

Main activities

Main activity Ma (Links to Sa)

Give each child a blank postcard. Tell them that they are going to use a range of sources to find out about a trip made by some school children to a famous tourist attraction. They are then going to write a postcard about the trip as though they were on it. Their postcard should include a date, details of how they travelled to the attraction, what they saw there and their feelings about the trip. Onto the other side of the postcard they should draw an appropriate picture. This postcard could also be produced on the computer using either Word or an appropriate desktop publishing software.

Main activity Mb (Links to Sb and Sc)

Show the children a picture of the Great Exhibition. Explain that in Victorian times this was a famous attraction. If you were going to visit this attraction what would you need to know? Ask the children to look at the sources and design a leaflet advertising the Great Exhibition. This task could be done on the computer using the sources as images.

Plenary activities

Plenary activity Pa (Links to Ma)

Children to share their postcards. If possible share with the children Queen Victoria's diary in which she describes her visit to the Great Exhibition (These can be found at www.royal.gov.uk/). If the children did not do starter activity Sc introducing the Millennium Dome it could be discussed here.

Plenary activity Pb (Links to Mb)

Share the children's leaflets. Why do the children think the Victorians were so keen to visit the exhibition? Would they have enjoyed it? If the children did not do starter activity Sc introducing the Millennium Dome it could be discussed here.