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Victorian Children: Timelines

Extra Activities

These activities are suggestions for follow-up work. Most are to be done away from the computer and so allow more pupils access to the site. Some suggestions involve other uses of IT, such as word processing, research or desktop publishing.

Look at the Royal Family Portrait. Research the lives of Queen Victoria’s children. Write what it would be like to be a child of Victoria.

People who helped Victorian children
Research the lives, work and motivation of Shaftesbury, Barnardo and other Victorian reformers using CD-ROMs, reference books and the Internet. There are many biographies of Shaftesbury and Barnardo as well as some useful Internet sites - see Resources and Internet Sites.

In Victorian times handbills were a popular way for people to spread their views. Either:
a) design a handbill using IT to persuade people of one of the points of view; or
b) use the statements to write a letter to a newspaper arguing one point of view.
Pupils could role play or debate a variety of views and come to their own conclusions. There are still ‘street children’ and working children in many parts of the world today. Profit versus fair trade is still an issue.

Victorian Schools
Pupils could:
a) list the similarities and differences between a Victorian class and the pupil’s own;
b) write a dialogue or play of teacher and children at the start of a school day; or
c) write a dialogue between two school children, one who has been at the school a long time and one who has worked in a mill or mine but has now come to school because of the new Acts. It is their first day.

A Victorian Toyshop
Research the design and wording of packaging for Victorian toys. Use IT to design an advert or the packaging for a Victorian toy and a modern toy. Make sure the advert appeals to parents as well as children.

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