- Define and explain Games Grandparents Played in your own words
- Use key terms such as Evidence accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Games Grandparents Played: learn playground games from long ago and try playing one yourself.
Learn playground games from long ago and try playing one yourself.
Key ideas
The past was not all the same
Children long ago did not all play with the same toys. Rich children might own painted tin soldiers, while poorer children played with marbles or homemade dolls. Toys can show us that life was different for different people.
Objects tell stories
You can learn about the past without reading a single word. An old toy shows what materials people had, what games they enjoyed and how much money families could spend. Looking closely at objects and asking questions is called studying artefacts.
Key term — Evidence: Anything that helps us learn about the past. An old teddy bear is evidence of how children played.
Why might a poor Victorian child not own a shop-bought toy?
The family could not afford it, so the child would make toys or play free games instead.
Answer: The family could not afford it, so the child would make toys or play free games instead.
- Forgetting that rich and poor children played differently Expensive shop-bought toys belonged to wealthier families. Poorer children often made their own toys or played outdoor games that cost nothing.
- Thinking everything changed Some toys, like balls, dolls and teddy bears, have been played with for hundreds of years. Always check what stayed the same too.
Practice
What games people enjoyed, what the box pictures show about the time, and what materials were available.
False. Toys depended on how much money a family had.
An object made by people in the past.
Wood and tin (metal) are two examples.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Evidence"?
Give one way toys have changed and one way they have stayed the same.
- Games Grandparents Played: learn playground games from long ago and try playing one yourself.
- The past was not all the same: Children long ago did not all play with the same toys.
- Artefact: An object made by people in the past.
- Watch out for: forgetting that rich and poor children played differently