Find out about the New Towns that were planned to help with housing shortages. Look at some examples. Children identify the key elements that they would like included in a new town, and then write a report for a new town planning committee.

Food was rationed during WW2 and the government constantly gave out advice about how to grow and preserve food using various methods. Fridges went into mass production after WW2. Children explore a BBC site – rations, shops, a quiz, etc!

Ensure that children understand that all the people who have come to live here since Roman times have made an impact on Britain. Children research one country that people have immigrated from and add a picture and label to a large class version of the jigsaw.

Children watch TV footage and research the festival of Britain. They make a postcard of their favourite part and write a message on the back about what they liked.

Children have the opportunity to cook one course of a typical 1950s meal or to set the table. Discuss safety measures before children cook the shepherds’ pie, rice pudding or sponge pudding and custard. Will everyone have a taste of all three dishes?

Explain that the population in Britain has been rising steadily since World War 2. This is not only due to immigration, but also to improved health services. Discuss the birth of the National Health Service. Children draw graphs to show population growth.

Adinkra cloths are craft with a message. Children explore the traditional symbols printed on the cloths and create their own symbols to tell a story of their own lives.

Most immigrants who have come to Britain have brought skills with them. Many immigrants or descendants of immigrants have become well-known in the fields of sport, entertainment, politics and the professions. Children research and list examples.

Take a trip back in time to introduce art of icon painting from ancient kingdom of Ethiopia. Children explore features of this art form and consider how they were painted and their purpose. They copy small areas of icons to capture style elements.

Children spot which items are out of place in a 1950s living room, and dress a character from each decade.

Children continue work on health and hygiene in relation to clean water and the diseases caused/transmitted by dirty water. Using the Save the Children website, children discover the ways in which this issue is being tackled in different parts of the world. Suitable for years 3 and 4.

Children watch a car chase scene from the original Italian Job and try and guess its date. They create their own car chase using toy cars and film to show the rest of the class.

Children look at every day objects which have changed since WW2, choose one and write a museum card for it.

2012 brings with it London’s third Summer Olympic Games! In this session children find out more about the games in 1908 and those in 1948. Through research of the past they discover what made them unique in so many ways.

After WW2 many towns that were badly damaged in the bombing needed to be re-built. Children research what happened in Coventry and consider what could be done to help re-build and re-construct the area. Present their findings as a conversation between friends.

Now children are going to expand the information about themselves to include their family. They draw family trees. Discuss the role of women – do children’s mothers have the same role as their grandmothers or earlier generations? What about the African women? Suitable for years 5 and 6.

Children recognise the need for affordable social housing. Groups discuss different forms of affordable housing – council houses, tower blocks, housing associations, prefabs. Feedback to class with pros and cons and decide which would be most useful after a problem.

Children understand that millions of houses were destroyed during WW2 and they needed to be replaced. Houses were designed that were pre-fabricated. They were quick to build; thousands were put up in the 1940s/1950s. Children choose key info needed to sell a prefab.

In the past landowner’s have not wanted people to have access to their land. Children look at how the introduction of National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 has changed this. Children annotate a map showing ‘right to roam’ areas, trails, etc.

Look at other celebrations that take place here now because of the different immigrants who have come to Britain. Children research one of these celebrations in groups and using Hamilton WebLearner children produce a web page to describe and explain it.