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HISTORY at Home Lessons & Activities

HISTORY at Home is a free video series of brief history lessons designed to teach, inspire and motivate. Check here Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings to see what new presenters can teach you about history, and be sure to download our “lesson plan” worksheets to test your knowledge after watching each video. Share your answers on our social media channels with #historyathome

Dan Abrams is the CEO and Founder of Abrams Media, Chief Legal Affairs Anchor for ABC News, and the host of top-rated cable series “Live PD “ and the new hit series, “Court Cam,” on A&E Network.

Dan Abrams: How Teddy Roosevelt Inspired the Teddy Bear

Garry Adelman

Award-winning author, speaker, battlefield guide and vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography, Garry Adelman is Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust .

Ulysses S. Grant, the Unlikely Hero

Civil War Photography Was Ahead of Its Time

Using fictional metaphor (like zombie lore) and historical events to facilitate discourse around large-scale problem-solving, Brooks explores new ways to attack old problems as well as new concerns.

The History of Hand Washing

How Joseph Lister Cleaned Up the Infectious World of Surgery

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence J. Fishburne III has achieved an impressive body of work as an actor, producer and director. Fishburne’s versatile acting has won him awards in theatre, film and television.

How Frederick Douglass Inspired the Civil Rights Movement

Kevin Frazier

As co-host of four-time Emmy Award-winning show Entertainment Tonight , Kevin Frazier continues to impact the entertainment industry as a multi-faceted journalist, producer and entrepreneur.

Kevin Frazier: How the Buffalo Soldiers Helped 'Win the West'

"The History Guy" Lance Geiger

Lance has always loved history—a passion he got from his mother, who emphasized education, and his father, who liked John Wayne movies. He now follows his passion of telling stories from our forgotten history.

The History of Toilet Paper

Hospital Ships: A History of Service

How An African Slave Helped Save Generations from Smallpox

Barnstorming Aviator Bessie Coleman

Macey Hensley

Macey Hensley started learning about the U.S. Presidents at the age of 2. After appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for the first time at 5 years old, she was deemed Ellen’s “Presidential Expert”.

President Zachary Taylor, AKA 'Rough and Ready'

All About President Ulysses S. Grant

All About President Martin Van Buren

Billie Jean King

One of Life Magazine's “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Billie Jean King is the founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.

Althea Gibson, the 'Jackie Robinson of Tennis'

Padma Lakshmi

Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi is internationally known as a food expert, model, actress and best-selling author, as well as the recipient of Variety’s Karma Award and the NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

How Florence Nightingale Changed Medicine

Brad Meltzer

In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction, Children’s Books and even comic books, for which he won the prestigious Eisner Award.

The Secret Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln

The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington

Brian Unger

Brian Unger is the host of HISTORY's "How the States Got Their Shapes." He’s best known as a founding correspondent and producer at "The Daily Show" and his role on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

How 'Distancing' was Used to Shape Our States

How Transportation Innovations Helped Shape Our States

John Bukaty

John Bukaty was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo. The son of an NFL player and a stay-at-home mom, he grew up drawing, in mud at first, and then with paper and pencil.

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Exploring History: Engaging Lesson Plans and Resources for Teachers

Welcome to our website, where we dive into the captivating world of history education. Whether you’re a seasoned educator or a passionate homeschooling parent, we’ve curated a collection of engaging lesson plans and resources to make your history teaching journey both exciting and informative. Join us as we explore a variety of historical topics, from ancient civilizations to modern events, while incorporating interactive activities and primary source documents that bring history to life.

• History Lesson Plans: Unveiling the Past: Our history lesson plans cater to different age groups and cover a wide range of topics, ensuring that you can find the perfect resources for your classroom. From exploring ancient civilizations like Egypt, Rome, and Greece to understanding the causes and consequences of World War I and II, our comprehensive lesson plans provide a solid foundation for historical learning.
• Social Studies Resources: Cultivating Global Citizens: Social studies is an integral part of history education, fostering an understanding of cultures, geography, and citizenship. Our social studies resources complement history lessons by integrating geography into historical narratives, helping students grasp the significance of locations and how they shaped historical events. Additionally, we offer activities that promote global citizenship and encourage students to explore the diverse perspectives that have shaped our world.
• Primary Source Documents: Hearing Voices from the Past: One of the most effective ways to connect students with history is through primary source documents. We believe in bringing historical figures and events to life by allowing students to engage directly with the voices of the past. Our curated collection of primary source documents, including letters, speeches, photographs, and diary entries, provides valuable insights into different historical periods, fostering critical thinking and historical analysis skills.
• Interactive History Lessons: Learning Through Engagement: Gone are the days of dry and passive history lessons. Our interactive history lessons encourage active participation and engagement, making learning a fun and immersive experience. Whether it’s organizing mock debates on historical controversies or creating hands-on projects that recreate historical artifacts, our resources ensure that students become active participants in their own learning journey.
• Black History Month Activities: Celebrating Diversity and Contributions: Black history is an essential part of our collective narrative, and we provide a range of activities to celebrate and honor the contributions of Black individuals throughout history. From biographies of influential figures to lessons on the Civil Rights Movement, our resources offer opportunities for students to explore the rich tapestry of Black history and its significance in shaping society.

As educators, it’s our responsibility to ignite a passion for history in our students. Our blog is dedicated to providing you with the tools and resources necessary to create engaging and meaningful history lessons. By incorporating our carefully curated lesson plans, social studies resources, primary source documents, and interactive activities, you’ll inspire your students to become critical thinkers, empathetic global citizens, and lifelong lovers of history. Join us on this exciting journey of exploration and discovery as we unlock the doors to the past and bring history alive in your classroom.

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Our Story: American History Stories and Activities You Can Do Together

• Field Trips

How are you connected to the water? The toys you play with, the food you eat, and the way you have fun depends on the men and women who work on America's waterways. Learn the story of a brave girl who worked in a lighthouse and explore the water near you. Read more»

Many children have heard of “September 11” or “9/11” but may not understand the shocking events that occurred ten years ago. Use our featured children’s book The Little Chapel That Stood to discuss the events of September 11, 2001, and talk about the community helpers in your hometown or how we remember difficult issues. Look Up»

Railroads have moved people and cargo around America for more than 180 years. Explore steam locomotives with the read-aloud book <em>Jingle the Brass</em>and related activities including field trip suggestions, a video of the world’s oldest operable locomotive, and ideas for enjoying railroad lingo at play. Start thinking »

Whether you think America is more of a melting pot or a salad bowl, immigration has had a huge impact on American history. Explore the experiences of immigrants who came to America and the ways that immigration has changed life in America. Learn more »

Explore the women in your family this spring.  Have you ever thought about the women who shaped your life today? The sacrifices they’ve made, the obstacles they overcame, or the memorable times in history they lived through? Explore the women in your family or community who have made an impact on who you are today. Read more»

Featured Pages

Life on the water, september 11, 2001.

Many children have heard of “September 11” or “9/11” but may not understand the shocking events that occurred ten years ago. Use our featured children’s book The Little Chapel That Stood to discuss the events of September 11, 2001, and talk about the community helpers in your hometown or how we remember difficult issues. Look Up »

All Aboard the Train!

Railroads have moved people and cargo around America for more than 180 years. Explore steam locomotives with the read-aloud book Jingle the Brass and related activities including field trip suggestions, a video of the world’s oldest operable locomotive, and ideas for enjoying railroad lingo at play. Start Thinking »

Coming to America

Whether you think America is more of a melting pot or a salad bowl, immigration has had a huge impact on American history. Explore the experiences of immigrants who came to America and the ways that immigration has changed life in America. Learn more»

Great Women of Our Pasts

Explore the women in your family this spring.  Have you ever thought about the women who shaped your life today? The sacrifices they’ve made, the obstacles they overcame, or the memorable times in history they lived through? Explore the women in your family or community who have made an impact on who you are today . Read more»

Featured Activities

Investigating Immigration Patterns

It's in the numbers! Explore how charts and data maps can help you see immigration patterns in history.

Download the PDF »

( Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® .)

John Bull Riding the Rails

See the steam locomotive John Bull  when it was run on its 150th birthday.

Read This Book

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

By peter and connie roop.

Keep the Lighthouse Burning, Abbie tells the story of a teenage girl who becomes a hero by running her father’s lighthouse during a storm. Abbie’s adventure brings details of maritime history to life from the perspective of a young person.

Start Reading»

Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center

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2022 National Youth Summit: Our Democracy

American experiments, young people shake up elections (history proves it), becoming us, national youth summit 2020: teen resistance to systemic racism.

How do the stories we tell about our past shape our democracy?

Join us for the 2022–2023 school year!

How can we form a more perfect union? Check out new interactive lesson plans on democracy and the nation we build together.

New Classroom Resources >>

Need resources about how youth have impacted elections in the United States?

Watch the Videos Here > >

A new educational resource for high school teachers and students to learn immigration and migration history in a more accurate and inclusive way.

Lesson Plans for Secondary Students > >

How can young Americans create a more equitable nation?

Hold Your Own Summit > > >

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As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…"

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History Lesson Plans

The Opper Project , Using Editorial Cartoons in the Classroom: These standards-based, teacher-created, primary source lessons are based on editorial cartoons covering more than a century of American history.

Teaching History with Historic Clothing Artifacts : The History Teaching Institute in conjunction with The Ohio State University Historic Costume & Textiles Collection provides lesson plans to teach history using historical clothing artifacts.

Cold Cases: Lessons in Historical Skills and Methods : These standards-based, teacher-created, primary source lessons feature primary source materials from the Byrd Polar Research Center archives at Ohio State—all organized around the theme of polar exploration.

United States History Lesson Plans : Here you will find a variety of lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school grades. Most of these use primary sources, and all were prepared by teachers.

The Great War in Global Context includes teacher created lesson plans, bibliography, and links to online resources that address the military, diplomatic, political, and cultural aspects of World War I.

World War II Lesson Plans were created by participants at a summer institute for educators (Ohio Chautauqua).

The Scientific Revolution : These lesson plans examine science, society, and culture from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Inventors and Innovators Lesson Plans were created by educators at a summer institute (Ohio Chautauqua).

European History, 1450 - Present : These lesson plans include several primary-source based lessons.

Central Asia in World History : These are lesson plans in World History, World History AP, Geography, Family and Consumer Science, English, Journalism, Media Studies, and Global Studies for teaching Central Asia in World History.

Back to History: American History Lesson Plans created by educators

Back to History: American History Primary Source Activities created by educators

Lesson Plans Based on Current Events : These lesson plans are related to content from the "Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective" web site.

The purpose of this lesson plan is to place a human face on the Holocaust , by focusing on survivor's testimony, letters and journals from survivors and those who were killed, and poetry.

This lesson plan focuses on the French Revolution and how it challenged political, social and cultural norms in European society.

This lesson plan addresses the effect the Industrial Revolution had on people and industry.

These lesson plans focus on American history and integrate a variety of primary sources.

The Slavic Center at Ohio State University also has many K12 teacher resources, including some online teaching modules by some of our History Department faculty and graduate students. Check out their website here .

Direct links to the online teaching modules:

• " From Population Exchange to Ethnic Cleansing: Forced Migration in 20th-Century Eastern Europe " by Dr. Theodora Dragostinova. Format: Youtube video with a  fully accessible transcript available .
• " An Introduction to Uzbekistan " by Henry Misa, Alisher Khaliyarov, and Dr. Madina Djuraeva. Format: u.osu.edu website.
• " Medical and Healthcare Innovation in Estonia " by Dr. Lorraine Wallace and Steven Mousetes. Format: Youtube video with a  fully accessible transcript available . PowerPoint available for download through  Knowledge Bank .
• " An Overview of Czech Language, History, and Culture " by Ashton Kimbler. Format: Youtube video with a  fully accessible transcript available .
• " Youth Culture in Postcommunist Romania " by Dr. Adela Lechintan-Siefer. Format: Google website with embedded content.

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Fun Ways to Teach Historical Thinking Skills

6 activities & strategies that engage & build skills .

History class must be more than just studying events and figures from the past and memorizing dates- and thank gosh for that! Really exploring history and engaging students in history classes means that they genuinely explore the past and investigate, wrestle, and face the lessons of history in meaningful ways. This demands that students develop historical thinking skills.

Luckily, it can be incredibly engaging to do so. However, it can also be daunting to develop those higher order thinking skills! This can be especially challenging if you teach in an inclusion class with mixed ability learners who really struggle with critical thinking skills. These are some fun activities I have used to teach historical thinking skills and build them during the year.  I hope they help!

SKILL: Historical Interpretation & Synthesis

Historical Interpretation means that students can combine various sources and evidence to develop insight into the past and make original connections to it. It can be one of the most challenging to teach, but also the most fun!

ACTIVITY 1: Scavenger Hunt

This can be done at the end of pretty much any unit. I recently did it for a Progressive Era unit. Students did a “Progressive Era Legacy Scavenger Hunt” around campus and had to take 3 pictures of things that could be seen as having a clear connection to the progressive era.  Students made a quick powerpoint presentation and had to explain the connection. Some connections were quite a stretch- like the school garden being a legacy of Roosevelt’s conservation, but it helped them look at the present with a critical eye towards the past and its impact and develop some synthesis skills! 

SKILL: Comparison

Comparison is a skill that students develop in most of their classes but is essential for understanding history, recognizing trends, and analyzing figures, periods, and events. But to make it more meaningful to history- make sure to pull the story and personalities out of the comparison!

ACTIVITY 2: Dinner Party 

This is a fun one that seems light and easy to pull students in but will get them to really think critically about differences between historical figures and their ideas.  With a simple image of a table with four to six seats on each side of the table, have students create seating arrangements based on which people would work and get along best together and who would likely get into fierce arguments and should sit far apart. After studying any unit with multiple figures like the Renaissance, Antebellum Era, the Civil Rights Movement, or Ancient Civilizations, give students a list of people they have studied and have them make their arrangements and justify their choices.  This goes so much beyond a venn-diagram while still being a relatively simple activity to create and complete that is still fun and rigorous!

SKILL: Chronological Reasoning &  Change Over Time

History is fundamentally the story and study of change and continuity over time. While memorizing dates is not essential, understanding how events build and develop over time is a fundamental historical thinking skill.

ACTIVITY 3: Spicy Timelines

Timelines can be used all the imte in history class, but keep them interesting and spicey by mixing it up!

1) Bell Ringer Timelines:

Quick and easy- post a series of events from the unit or last class and have students make a ‘quick & dirty’ timeline. 

2) Presidential Timelines:

This could also build some ‘periodization’ skills as students not only sort events in order but organize them in order but also by President. You can give students a bank of important events and have them organize and sort them or for more advanced learners, have them work from scratch.

3) Illustrated Timelines:

As easy and fun as it sounds- students draw images for the events of the timeline to foster some creativity and deeper connections.

4) POV Timelines:

This one builds another historical thinking skill- understanding point-of-view and some historical empathy as well.  I did this last year for the “ Road to Pearl Harbor ” and for each event, they not only summarize it, but then there are two boxes to explain how the Japanese and Americans viewed this even differently. Two birds, one stone, and some engaging history!

BONUS : When kids really need a break and some fun- grab big chalk and do these outside on sidewalks or on the parking lot.

If you have any other awesome timeline ideas, I would love to hear them. I’m always looking to add more spicy to my timeline activities!  😉

SKILL: CAUSATION

Cause and effect are fundamental skills in the study of history and even in high school, its surprising how much students struggle with it. It took me years to realize that students actually need a lot of support in developing this skills! Here's an easy way to build this into your class any day of the year.

ACTIVITY 4 : Simple Sentence Starter

This can be used for any topic and its simple but can be powerful as well.  Simply project or write this sentence frame and watch as students come up with many different effects and answers.

“If _______ never happened, than _______.” The simplicity is what makes this interesting.  For the Columbian Exchange, World War II, Neolithic Revolution, or Revolutionary War, students first have to consider what did change and then have to brainstorm how things would be different without that event. I sometimes then have students share with their neighbors or in small or groups, or even more fun- have everyone stand up and they can only sit down after reading there’s. All students can share and be successful! 

Activity 5: Scaffolded Cause and Effect Chart 

For a given event, print out 3-4 causes and effects each one on a full size paper (its more fun that way!) and scramble them. Give them to students in groups and first have them sort them into cause and effects. (Starts simple!) Next, have students put them in order of greatest significance- what was the main cause and most important effect? (Building complexity). Lastly, have students justify their answers- “X was the most important cause because ____”.  This helps diverse learners build skills one step at time without being overwhelmed and while being mostly hands on it also gets students writing and thinking critically.

SKILL: SOURCING DOCUMENTS

The shift to prioritizing primary sources has been vital in enriching our social studies classes.  It really gets students wrestling with the past on its own terms! And learning how to source documents and think critically about the document itself- the elements behind the document is essential. One of the most popular ways to do this is using SOAPS- which is excellent but make sure to introduce SOAPS with a little spice!

ACTIVITY 6: Spicy SOAPS

To ensure students enjoy doing SOAPS and learn the skills involved, give students rich and accessible sources to start with.

This could be an advertisement for a Coke from the 1920s, cave paintings, a medieval knight’s armor, a receipt from a silk road merchant, or a Picasso painting, just don’t give them a long-winded convoluted text from another century! Analyzing the the Lascaux cave paintings, or a magazine ad for a coke, students will enjoy considering the S ubject, O ccasion (understanding context!), A udience and who would be influenced by it, P urpose, and identifying what we know about the S peaker (or artist).  If student’s first experience with an analysis strategy like SOAPS is positive, they are much more likely to enjoy it when they are given a really challenging document next time.  SOAPS could be used weekly as its a vital skill and essential to multiple historical thinking skills.

Grab my SOAPS or SCOAPS Sheets here for free!

______________________________________________________________

Hey! I created a course for history teachers like you! 

Click to learn how to make history to come alive while bringing the joy back to teaching & learning!

How I use a timeline in class: In both history and math I start the school year having students create a timeline of their life (birthday through first day of this school year). 10 personal events on bottom and 10 world events on top. Showing an example of my timeline gives me an opportunity to share myself. I then get to know a bit about my students. In math I emphasize relative placement of events (9/11 is closer to 2002 than 2001) and in history it’s a good way to help students realize they are living in historical times now.

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Windows activity history and your privacy

Activity history helps keep track of the things you do on your device, such as the apps and services you use, the files you open, and the websites you browse. Your activity history is stored locally on your device.

You can  manage activity history settings  to choose what to store.

Features that use activity history

The following Windows features use your activity history. Refer back to this page after Windows releases and updates to learn about any new services and features that use your activity history:

Timeline . See a timeline of activities and choose whether to resume those activities from your device. For example, let’s say that you are editing a Word document on your device, but you aren't able to finish before you have to stop working for the day. If you turn on the  Store my activity history on this device  setting on the Activity history settings page, you will see that Word activity in your timeline the following day—and for the next several days—and from there, you can resume working on it. 

Microsoft Edge . When you use Microsoft Edge Legacy, your browsing history will be included in your activity history. Activity history will not be saved when browsing with InPrivate windows.

Your Microsoft account settings don't allow you to send your activity history to Microsoft, but your activity history will be stored on your device to help keep track of the things you do.

Activity history for multiple accounts

For multiple accounts, activity history is collected and stored locally for each local account, Microsoft account, or work or school account that you have associated with your device in Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts . You can also see these accounts in Windows 10 under Settings > Privacy > Activity history and in Windows 11 under Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history , where you can filter out activities from specific accounts from showing in your timeline. Hiding an account does not delete the data on the device.

Manage activity history settings

Activity history is customizable—at any time, you can choose to stop saving activity history.

Stop saving activity history locally on your device

Select Start , then select Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history .

Switch the  Store my activity history on this device  setting to Off .

Open Activity history settings

Note:  The option to send activity history to Microsoft has been deprecated from Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2, January 23, 2024-KB5034204 update. Previous Windows 11 versions before this update would still have the option available on their activity history page, and if enabled, activity history data will still be sent to Microsoft. You can either turn this option off or update to the latest Windows version to get the most recent updates.

You can clear and delete the activity history stored on your device. 

Clear your activity history

Select Start , then select Settings > Privacy & security  > Activity history .

Next to  Clear activity history for this account , select Clear history .

Note:  If you have previous activity history stored in the cloud before Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2, January 23, 2024-KB5034204 update, you can use the Clear activity history button to delete previously stored data in the cloud. Otherwise, your activity history will be automatically deleted within 30 days from when your data was last synced to the cloud.

Select Start , then select Settings > Privacy > Activity history .

Clear the Store my activity history on this device checkbox.

If you turn this setting off, you won’t be able to use any of the on-device features that rely on activity history, such as your timeline. You will still be able to see your browsing history in Microsoft Edge.

In previous versions of Windows, this setting was called Let Windows collect my activities from this PC .

The option to send activity history to Microsoft has been deprecated from Windows 10 22H2, January 23, 2024-KB5034203 update. Previous Windows 10 versions before this update would still have the option available on their activity history page, and if enabled, activity history data will still be sent to Microsoft. You can either turn this option off or update to the latest Windows version to get the most recent updates.

Under Clear activity history , select Clear .

Note:  If you have previous activity history stored in the cloud before Windows 10 22H2, January 23, 2024-KB5034203 update, you can use the Clear activity history button to delete previously stored data in the cloud. Otherwise, your activity history will be automatically deleted within 30 days from when your data was last synced to the cloud.

In your timeline, you can clear individual activities—or all activities—from an individual day. To do so, right-click an activity and select the option you prefer.

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51 Great Online Resources for History Teachers

We are currently building this page to help history and social studies teachers, instructors and professors find useful online resources. This project will probably never end because new sites are continuously created and old sites disappear. We have already blown past 51 great online resources. If any of the resources link to a dead page or you would like to suggest a useful site please send an email to [email protected] .

DailyHistory.org Study Guides

DailyHistory.org has over 900 articles that cover a multitude of topics. Our study guides organize core groups of materials for specific eras, and you can look for other articles with our search function. In addition to articles, we also have book reviews and booklists. Additionally, we have the complete Federalist Papers.

United States History American Civil War World War One World War Two Ancient History Roman History Renaissance History Ancient Greek History Ancient Egypt History The History of Things Book Reviews Booklists The Federalist Papers

• The American Yawp

The American Yawp is an outstanding free online textbook that is divided into two volumes. You can also get a paper copy of the book from the Stanford University Press for $24.95 for each volume. The American Yawp is a massive "Collaboration Open U.S. History Textbook." Essentially it is an open-source textbook. Historians essentially modeled the textbook on the open-source model that has been successfully used for numerous computer programs such as Linux, MediaWiki, Wordpress, and many more. In addition to the textbook, "The American Yawp" has an excellent Sourcebook that can be used to expand on topics with primary source documents.

Besides being an excellent textbook, it is a great way to help reduce textbook costs for students because it can be accessed online for free.

• Digital History

"Digital History" is a free textbook and sourcebook for United States History written and created by Steven Mintz and Sara McNeil . It's a great site that has a ton of content. Additionally, "Digital History" is supported by the University of Houston. Digital History also provides quizzes, interactive history modules, timelines, and teaching resource that include lesson plans and handouts. The site does use flash and some browsers will block some of the images.

• EDSITEment! - National Endowment for the Humanities

EDSITEment! focuses on Lesson Plans and Study Activities. The Lesson Plans cover some topics and are exceptionally detailed. The plans even suggest how many class sessions should be used to teach the lesson. The lesson plan also breaks down how each day should be organized to get through all of the material. For example, take a look at Turning the Tide in Europe, 1941-1944 . It provides background for the lesson, preparation, lesson activities, assessment, lesson extensions, and a ton of resources. These are some of the best lesson plans you will find online.

The site also has a section on Student Activities. There are over 200 different student activities that can be used in classrooms. These student activities include texts, videos, and interactive maps.

EDSITEment! is easily one of the best resources for teachers and instructors.

State Online History Encyclopedias and Archive Collections:

Many states have created online history websites through state historical organizations, state universities, university presses, and state humanities organizations. Some of the sites are fantastic and others are pretty underwhelming. Still, if you need your students to write about your state or a doing a state-based history project, it can be a good place to explore first. Additionally, some states have websites that can direct students to archives but most of these archives are not online. I am also concerned that some of the state resources for archives are not considered secure by google. While that is both concerning and embarrassing, it probably should not prevent students from using the websites.

If I am missing a state history Encyclopedia or history portal - please send me an email - [email protected] - so I can add it.

• The DPLA: Digital Public Library of America The DPLA includes a number of Primary Source Sets that allow teachers and students to explore specific topics. Additionally, the site may also be helpful if your state lacks a solid history site because it includes resources from all over the country.
• Encyclopedia of Alabama
• Alaska Humanities Forum Alaska History & Cultural Studies
• Encyclopedia of Arkansas
• Online Archive of California - This is only an archive - no articles. Most of the archives do not have any online resources available.
• Calisphere - University of California This site is a collection of California university archives and libraries.
• Colorado Encyclopedia
• ConnecticutHistory.org
• DC History Center Includes a history blog focused on DC and links to archives.
• Floripedia: A Florida Encyclopedia
• New Georgia Encyclopedia
• 64 Parishes - Encyclopedia for Louisiana
• Maine: An Encyclopedia
• MNOpedia - Minnesota Encyclopedia
• The Mississippi Encyclopedia
• Missouri Encyclopedia
• Online Nevada Encyclopedia
• New York Heritage - Digital Collections
• Ohio Central History - Content is pretty limited
• The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
• Oregon Encyclopedia
• South Carolina Encyclopedia
• Tennessee Encyclopedia
• Utah History Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia Virginia
• HistoryLink.org - Online Encyclopedia of Washington State
• The West Virginia Encyclopedia
• WyoHistory.org
• Smithsonian's History Explorer

The Smithsonian site includes teaching lessons, interactives, videos, museum artifacts, and other teacher resources. There is a remarkable amount of material to explore. The site also has an outstanding search function. The search function allows you to look for resources based on resources type (videos, artifacts, reference materials, etc.), grade, historical era, and cross-curricular connections (look for resources that touch on multiple subjects such as economics, science, etc.)

The United States National Archives The National Archives has a ton of resources on US history that focuses on primary source documents. Additionally, the Archives has created syllabi on how to teach students how to analyze primary sources. The Archives also created the DOCSTeach online tool for teaching archives from the National Archives.

The Archives has produced material that is primarily intended for middle and high school students. Here is an example of one of their Lesson Plans: Teaching Six Big Ideas in Constitution It creates several day ways to help to teach these documents.

• Library of Congress

Like the Smithsonian, the Libary of Congress is another outstanding United States government resource. The Library of Congress has multiple missions, but it has a teachers portal that allows you to browse materials and search for them more easily. It also has a search function that will help you find resources, but it isn't as good as the Smithsonian's search. It does allow you to search for content that satisfies Common Core and State materials. It also permits you to search for materials that fit organizational standards as set by the NCTE, AASL, NETS, NCSS and the NCSG.

• Chronicling America - Library Of Congress

Chronicling America is a digitized resource from the Libary of Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts. Chronicling America has a massive database of newspapers from all around the country. It is an outstanding place for students to learn how to use newspapers as a source for papers and history projects.

• The Stanford History Education Group

The Stanford History Education Group has created History Assessments of Thinking (HATS) that draw on the Library of Congress's digital resources. Here is a list of the HATS that Stanford has compiled. You can download the lesson plans from the site after you register (free) to the site. Typically, these HATS are critical writing assignments. The HATS use images or statements and to get students to write critically about the content. It is a fantastic way to add a writing assignment to cover materials that you have taught in class.

• The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is an archive based in the New York Historical Society building in New York. Instead of relying on its 70,000 piece collection on American History it has become a resource for teachers, undergraduate, and graduate students, professors and writers. Its website has a blog called History Now that has articles, videos, online timelines, and information from the Institute's exhibitions.

The 50+ Issues from History Now typically focus on a single broad historical topic. The articles in that issue will help you dive deeper into specific historical issues such as US Immigration Laws, Voting Rights, Alexander Hamilton, and Civil Rights. Each item of History Now links to relevant videos, articles, and even lesson plans.

• National History Education Clearinghouse

TeachingHistory.org resource created by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. It has a mixture of resources for teachers including teaching guides, lesson plan reviews, website reviews, history quizzes, guides to best practices, and history content. Teachinghistory.org has a ton of content, but you will need to do a deep dive into the site to find what you are looking for. Probably the most useful aspect of the Teachinghistory.org is its Website Reviews of various historical sites.

• Newseumed.org

Newseumed.org has a critical mission. It provides free resources "to cultivate the First Amendment and media literacy skills essential civic life." In the new social media world, students need to know how "to authenticate, analyze and evaluate information from a variety of sources." Over the past few years, it has become clear that Americans struggle to do this. Newseumed.org wants to help. To access Newseumed.org you do have to register with the site, but the materials are free.

Through its EDTOOLS feature, Newseum has numerous resources for history, government, and civics teachers. The two most useful tools are Critical Debates and Lesson Plans. Here an example of a Critical Debate entitled Is the System Fair? and a lesson plan called Introduction to the First Amendment: What's a Violation?

• Teaching with Historic Places

Teaching with Historic Places is a site run by the National Park Service. The site is focused on using the National Park and sites on the National Register of Historic Places as educational tools to teach history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects.

The site has created Lesson Plans, Writing Assignments, Beyond the Classroom Activities and a Teacher Lessons Portal. They do have lessons plans for all states, but this a new site and it is still a touch wonky. Once they work out the kinks, it will be a great resource.

• American Battlefield Trust

The American Battlefield Trust has created over 400 maps, videos, and articles that illustrate battles from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. These maps, videos, and articles can be used to show what happened at over 400 battles. The site is exceedingly straightforward and informative.

• America in Class

The National Humanities Center is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the advancement of the understanding of the humanities and is supported by approximately 50 universities, foundations, and companies created America in Class. The website provides curated primary source materials for United States history classes. These materials would be appropriate for both high school and college students. These materials are organized into thematic and time-based collections. For example, here is a link to the Toolbox The Triumph of Nationalism/The House Dividing: America 1815-1850 . The Toolbox contains materials for different topics, checklists, timelines, topic framing questions, and source material.

The materials on the site are curated, and the selections are outstanding. That provides a ton of exceptional sources and guidance that helps teachers use the materials for discussions, assignments or essays.

• The American Presidency Project

The American Presidency Project, non-profit and non-partisan, is the leading source of presidential documents on the internet hosted at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789-1929 The Public Papers of the Presidents: since 1929 The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: 1977-2009 The Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents: post-2009

• Voices of Democracy -- The U.S. Oratory Project

The Voices of Democracy is a web project that focuses on great speeches from American history. There is a journal, curriculum units (based on themes, Speakers, Authors and periods) and blog with short posts focused on crucial speeches. Typically, each speech part of the site will have either a video or text of the speech, an essay, teaching materials, and additional resources. Voices on Democracy also has an Grades 8-12 Educational Resource Guide that shows teachers how to use their materials and comply with Common Core Standards.

• Google Arts & Culture

Google Arts and Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform that allows teachers to not only connect with art in some of the best museums in the world, but also extensively covers fashion, performing arts, and world heritage sites. The site uses pictures and articles to tell unique stories about some of the most influential artists in the world. Here is a profile on Alvin Ailey and his choreography . Here's another project that introduces the art of Vermeer .

Google Arts and Culture would be a useful resource to introduce arts and culture into history or other humanities courses.

• PBS Learning Media

PBS Media is a resource that includes videos, interactive content, and lesson plans. The site has resources for a ton beyond history and social studies. The critical component of PBS Media is its wealth of videos that have been drawn from PBS. It has over 6,000 videos (K-13+) on various social studies topics for students.

• Digital Public Library of America

"The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an all-digital library that aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States." What does this mean? Essentially, it allows you to access sources from all over the world.

The DPLA has created the Primary Source Sets for teachers and instructors. The Source Sets explore historical topics with primary sources and teaching guides. You can search for the Source Sets either through the site's search function or on the Primary Source Sets page. On the Source Sets page, you can search based on subject, periods or recently added. For example, the Scopes Trial Source Set includes photos of the people involved in the trial, excerpts from the Tennessee biology textbooks, records of witness testimony, and even a political cartoon.

• Civil Rights Movement Primary Sources

These resources were collected by Professor Evan Faulkenbury ( @evanfaulkenbury ) for his students. Each of these collections explores a different aspect of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Freedom Summer (1964) Collection - Wisconsin Historical Society SNCC Digital Gateway KZSU Project South Interviews - Stanford University Libraries Complete interviews from Eyes on the Prize - Washington University in St. Louis Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Papers - Mississippi Department of MDAH Archives and History Freedom Summer Interviews - University of Florida Civil Rights Digital Library - University System of Georgia Southern Oral History Project Black Panther sources - Michigan State University Who Speaks for the Negro? - Interviews - Vanderbilt University FBI records on Civil Rights - The Federal Bureau of Investigation Malcolm X Project - Columbia University Green Book Digital Archive - New York Public Library NY Black Freedom Struggle - Rochester University Umbra - Umbra Search African American History Goin' North - West Chester University Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina - The North Carolina Digital Collections from the State Library of North Carolina and the State Archives of North Carolina

• National Archives - Educator Resources

The National Archives is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for maintaining and documenting government and historical records. The National Archives has been a resource for historians since its creation in 1934. The Archives has some resources available for teachers, but the DocsTeach.org is probably the most useful and readily accessible feature for teachers. DocsTeach.org is designed for educators to help them connect with the Archives resources.

• BBC History

BBC History site focuses on short interactive stories that mix charts, videos, pictures, and text boxes. The interactives are useful for teaching subjects quickly, but they lack the depth of other sites on this list. Regardless, the interactives are fun and entertaining. Here's a link to an interactive on The London Blitz .

• Zinn Education Project

The Zinn Education Project is inspired by Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States which emphasized the role of working people, women, people of color and the organized social movements that helped shape history. Zinn project is much less focused on politics that can take a central role in the history courses. The Zinn Education Project has a Teaching Materials portal that helps teachers find resources based on periods, themes, resource type, or grade level. It also has a keyword search function if you know what you are looking for. You can search for different types of resources including teaching activities, articles, profiles, posters, audio clips, websites, and many others. Here is an example of a Teaching Activity entitled COINTELPRO: Teaching the FBI's war on the Black Freedom Movement .

• Ancient History Encyclopedia

The Ancient History Encyclopedia is a carefully curated encyclopedia covering the ancient world history. The encyclopedia publishes articles, definitions, timelines, maps, and has a search function. If your students are studying ancient history, this is a good place to start. Unlike Wikipedia, the articles are written and edited by experts in their fields.

• History Blogs

Nursing Clio - Nursing Clio describes itself as "open access, peer-reviewed, collaborative blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day issues related to gender and medicine. Bodies, reproductive rights, and health care are often at the center of social, cultural, and political debates. We believe the issues that dominate today’s headlines and affect our daily lives reach far back into the past — that the personal is historical." Tropics of Meta - Tropics of Meta describes itself as a site dedicated to offering "a fresh perspective on history, current events, popular culture, and issues in the academic world. Founded in 2010, ToM has published over 700 essays by historians, social scientists, artists, filmmakers, and creative writers both within and outside the academy, giving voice to communities across the United States and the world." We're History - "We’re History tells the story of America and how the country became what it is today. Written by scholars, it is real history with all its triumphs, failures, twists, and ironies. Our contributors come from inside and outside of academia, but they are all committed to the idea that it is history that has made us who we are." We're History has a ton of great articles addressing different aspects of American History. The Junto - The Junto "Americanists dedicated to providing content of general interest to other early Americanists and those interested in early American history, as well as a forum for discussion of relevant historical and academic topics." Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society - The Points Blog "is an academic group blog that brings together scholars with wide-ranging expertise with the goal of producing original and thoughtful reflections on the history of alcohol and drugs, the web of policy surrounding them, and their place in popular culture." Process: A Blog for American History - "Process—the blog of the Organization of American Historians, The Journal of American History, and The American Historian—strives to engage professional historians and general readers in a better understanding of U.S. history." U.S. History Scene - This site is a fantastic resource for articles, primary sources, syllabi, and reading list covering American History. It describes itself as "a multimedia education website composed of historians and educators at over fifty universities dedicated to teaching the American past in a global context. Our goal is to use innovative open source technology and live digital curriculum to democratize learning and help history lovers master United States history in a way that is entertaining, relevant, and intuitive." Balkinization - Balkinization publishes articles that address current constitutional and legal issues with a historical lens. The authors are a collection of historians and law professors. They often explain currently relevant legal questions that are in the news. If there is a legal question dominating the headlines there is a good chance there is an in Balkinization on that topic. The only downside is that the site is somewhat difficult to use but it does have a useful search function.

• Organization of American Historians Teaching Resources

The Organization of American Historians has some tools for high school and college-level United States history courses, but the material is primarily for members of the OAH. Memberships range in price from $45 (for students), $60 (K-12 Educators), and up to $245 (income over $150,000). The membership includes access to several OAH publications and US History Teaching Units. While there is a rationale to join the OAH as if you are United States history teacher, it probably cannot be justified based solely on the materials offered by the organization.

• American Historical Association - Teaching Resources for Historians

The American Historical Association (AHA), the largest history organization in the United States, has a much rich assortment of material for teachers and instructors. Like the OAH, the AHA is a member organization and has some excellent resources on their website. They offer a mixture of classroom materials, discussions of teaching, plagiarism and a Teaching and Learning History community portal. Like the OAH, some materials will require a membership. Membership for K-12 teachers costs $59 a year.

• Best History Websites

The Best History Sites from EdTechteacher is probably the most comprehensive listing of websites for teachers in different history fields. Despite being comprehensive, it is difficult to recommend the site because it does not appear to be updated regularly. If you start going through the site, you will find numerous dead or misdirected links. It is especially frustrating when you are looking for sources on World, Latin American, European, Asian, and African history courses. Still, it may be useful if you are willing to poke around the site.

• Online History Courses

Free online college-level history courses are an excellent resource for teachers and instructors. They can be used as a refresher for material that you haven't studied in years or at all. Many of the sites also include portals for educators. Most of the online courses break them up into individually sub-titled lectures. Instead of taking an entire course you can watch a specific lecture on a single topic or use the resources from the class (such as lecture slides, images readings, and assignments) in your class. The number of history courses available has grown dramatically.

Most of the courses on the sites below will allow you to access all its materials (videotaped lectures, materials, images, slides, etc.), but a few don't. The videotaped lectures may be only available when the course is scheduled. Courses may also only be available for a limited period.

Most of the online courses will require you to register, and they will most likely send your email. Typically, this process is pretty painless. Additionally, some organizations will also charge a fee if you need a certificate of completion from the site. For example, EdX.org charges fees ranging from $49-99 to get a verified certificate of completion. Other sites will ask for a donation to support their programs.

Future Learn, Coursera and edX are currently the best options from this list because they get their course from multiple universities. The Yale and MIT sites appear to lack full institutional support. There numerous also other providers and some may be better options than those listed here, but the world of online courses seems to be evolving. Unfortunately, history courses are not a primary part of their offerings. Most of the sites are focusing on skills such as IT specializations and computer programing.

edX.org - edX.org has several history classes available from multiple universities across the including Columbia, Harvard, Purdue, Peking, and others. They have one of the widest selections of course. Future Learn History Courses - Future Learn has a focus on European and British History, and the courses are fairly eclectic (i.e., Hadrian's Wall, The Fall of the Roman Republic, and Why Opera Matters). As of January 2019, the site had 29 different courses available. They also have paid online degree programs for students. Coursera.org - Coursera.org is one of the largest providers of online courses in the world. It has 182 universities and organizations partnering with it. This feature allows Cousera to offer over 100 history or history-related courses. The courses offered are incredibly diverse. The courses include videos, readings, and quizzes. Some classes can be completed for free, but others are behind paywalls. You can either pay for courses individually or buy a monthly subscription. Udemy - Udemy is the largest online course provider in the world. They offer free courses, but most of them cost $9.99 or more. Their history section is relatively limited. Additionally, more than half of the classes are not in taught in English. MIT Open Courseware - MIT Open Courseware has numerous history courses, but they have not added any new courses since 2017. The courses are structured more like classes and are less user-friendly. The courses also do not appear to have videotaped lectures available after the course has finished. Still, the courses do have lecture slides and additional information for educators. Open Yale Courses History Courses - The Open Yale Courses offer free complete courses taught by Yale History professors, but it only has four history courses available.

• Reacting to the Past

Reacting to the Past is a teaching technique that instead of relying on lectures and notes, uses elaborate role-playing games based on classic texts that require students to play historical characters. Instead of observing a lecture, students are actively working within the confines of the philosophical and intellectual beliefs of the historical figures they are portraying. Reacting to the Past requires students to explore the complicated historical situations that people lived through. As part of the game, students prepare speeches, write papers, and other public presentations to try and win the game.

Reacting to the Past was created by Mark C. Carnes at Barnard College in the 1990s. So far, it has been implemented at hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States. High schools have also started introducing Reacting to the Past in the classroom. 30+ Reacting games have been published by W.W. Norton & Co., the University of North Carolina Press and the Reacting Consortium Press. In addition to the published games, there are over 100 games currently in development.

Unlike other sites on this list, Reacting to the Past requires preparation by teachers to implement it into the classroom successfully. Therefore, Reacting has numerous conferences to help teachers add it to their curriculum. The Reacting site has an article and several videos explaining how Reacting to the Past was incorporated into the Freshman curriculum at the University of Oregon.

Genealogy Explained: Military Records

Genealogy Explained has an excellent Guide for researching military records. While the guide focuses on searching military records for genealogical purposes, these records could be used for a number of different types of historical research projects. The article explains how to use the free FamilySearch.org service. The links on the guide go directly to the section on United States veterans.

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Fun History Project Ideas & Hands-On Activities

• Posted by by Maddie
• October 27, 2020

History lessons can be dry and boring if you rely completely on a dry and boring textbook. But there is a better way!

It’s so easy to make history come alive with the right books and resources. One of the best ways to make your history lessons fun and interesting is with well-planned hands-on history projects.

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No matter the time period you’re studying, there are some activity ideas you can easily include. Hands-on history projects are a wonderful way to make history lessons come alive for your kids. Now, you don’t need to do a hands-on project every day – but a few well-planned projects can make all the difference.

Hands-on history activities and projects can: 

• Give you a better understanding of the time and culture.
• Can help you see historical context and how events and people are related.
• Engage kids in their learning.

It’s so easy to become passive learners – read this, fill out that worksheet… blah… blah… blah… However, when we find ways to engage our kids in their learning, it makes such a difference. You can do this will read aloud, interesting assignments, and of course, hands-on projects and activities.

Engaging the minds (and hands) of our kids makes all the difference in their educational experience. Now that you’re convinced to add some hands-on fun to your homeschool day, how should you do it?

Don’t fill your days with meaningless activities. One well-planned and executed activity each week will go much further than a day filled with boring and mindless activities. Best of all, you don’t need a pile of activity books or resources. With just a handful of ideas that can be applied to any time period or culture will be just as useful.

I’ve put together my favourite ways in which we create hands-on learning experiences for History lessons, but as always I’d love to know yours too – so, if there’s one I’ve missed be sure to leave me a comment.

Learn About The Artists Of The Time

When you’re immersing yourself in the culture or time period, take a look at the art from that era or geographical area. Artists, their lives and artwork give us a glimpse of life during that time – how the people dressed and what was important to them.

• Create art using the same mediums as artists from that time period
• Use artwork as inspiration for your own creations
• Read biographies about the artist

Create A Lap Book

Lapbooks and notebooks are a great way to create a capsule of all the things your kids are learning.

They can create little mini-books and interactive booklets filled with details about the time period, the people, the culture… really, anything that interests them. They are a great choice for research assignments.

Kids can research a specific topic and include the information they find in their lap book or notebook. Best of all, a completed notebook or lap book becomes a great addition to your year-end portfolio – displaying everything your kids have studied and learned that year.

Immerse Yourself In The Time Period & Culture

Well-thought-out activities can really immerse you and your kids in the culture and time period of a certain people.

Confession: I know so much about ancient Egyptian history ( believe me, I knocked it out of the park watching a recent episode of Jeopardy and knew the answer to every question for that category! ).

Why did that happen? Because of how we’ve immersed ourselves in our lessons during that subject – researching maps, making our own fruity mummy, reciting a list of important pharaohs, reading the myths and stories of the people.

No matter the time period or country you’re studying you can apply this in a few different ways:

• Researching and creating costumes
• Making a meal using recipes from that country
• Reading the myths or legends of the country

Play A Game

I love to include games whenever I can – they are such a great learning resource – and who wouldn’t rather play a game than fill out a worksheet?

It can get expensive buying games for every time period you study. Instead, you can opt to find online games or purchase downloadable plans for games that you put together yourself (the bonus being it’s a great craft too!)

Tip: we love to listen to audiobooks while we color, cut out, and assemble our game boards.

Some of my favourite history games available include;

• BBC Interactive Games
• KS3 History Games
• Homeschool Giveaways
• Education.com
• Wonderfilled Days

Of course, this is just the beginning, a quick Google will help you find hidden gems specifically related to the person or time period your studying. For example, we did some work on Rosa Parks recently and simply googled ‘Rosa Parks Games’ you can add on a specific age or grade if you’re looking for something specific.

We had thousands of results and the top ten were more than sufficient to keep us going for a couple of weeks! I also found a whole host of new websites to bookmark and use as resources for the future which was a huge bonus.

Create A Map

Understanding how one country fits into the geography of an area brings a whole new level of understanding about that place. Taking time to study that country – its hills, borders, mountains, and other details – can help you see their culture and life in a new way.

You can look at historical atlases or maps. Alternatively, if you’re looking to incorporate crafts then download and print, then color in or even draw your own map of the area.

Consider taking it to the next level and making it even more hands-on by incorporating salt-dough, cookie dough or play dough. We recently covered the Olympics and how they are incorporated into our history both as a nation and worldwide, to make the learning experience more hands-on we followed this incredible salt dough DIY to make some super fun Olympic medals.

Build A 3D Model

Does the country or historical era you’re currently studying have any interesting buildings or inventions? These could be perfect 3D construction models. Either from pre-made kits available online or as a craft.

For example, the 1930s was the decade in which the Empire State Building was built in New York City. The 102-story Art Deco skyscraper is a fantastic demonstration of the architecture in the 1930s and leads onto a discussion surrounding building materials and skyscrapers / high rise building structures.

This free printable allows you to print off a model of the Empire State Building which can be made into a 3D model. Alternatively, consider using construction blocks such as Lego or Duplo .

Create A Timeline

A history timeline is a wonderful project that every middle school child should create. Seeing how historical events and people fit together gives them a better understanding of historical context and how all those events and people are interrelated.

You can create one large timeline for the whole period you are studying or, if that feels a bit overwhelming, smaller topic-based timelines can be just as useful.

Consider displaying this timeline in your homeschooling room, in a bedroom or storing it safely so you can get it out and reference/add to it as your knowledge of historical events improves. These free history timelines are perfect for getting you started .

You can look to take this to the next level with a family tree or family timeline too. This is a great way to discuss important dates such as the years grandparents were born and what special events happened during that year. Get the children to interview the member of the family about what life was like back then – they could even write a report on what life was like which leads us nicely onto our final history project idea.

Do Some Creative Writing

For those kids who love journaling and creative writing, history is a great place to let their creativity run wild. They can journal as if they lived during that time period, ‘interview’ a famous figure of the time, or create their own writing assignment ideas.

This is a great way for children to also improve on their spelling, grammar, research and more…

For a more long-term creative writing project, consider a newspaper. Publish a report once a week as you move through the years week by week. With 52 weeks in a year, you could cover 52 years and of course, this doesn’t have to start when newspapers started. Instead, you could report as though you’re living in Aztec times if you wanted.

Alternatively, you could adapt the reports depending on the time of year. For example, New Year’s eve in the 1930s, Halloween in the 1970s or Christmas in the 1870s.

If your kids are fond of being in front of the camera, consider getting them to record the report on a video camera instead of writing it down. They could even dress the part too.

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Everything you wrote here is so inspiring! From my experience I know that using games is way more fun than flashcards or worksheets! And, as a bonus, most games require at least the skills of strategy and/or speed, too. Each parent should carefully watch their child and adjust the number of tasks to their abilities. It is better to do less practice than force your child to solve tasks which they no longer want to do and which can. We want our children to develop through play. Chess is the perfect example for this matter. Don’t try to play entire game from the very begining of your chess adventure. Use diagrams like those – net-bossorg/chess-puzzles-for-kids-by-maksim-aksanov. Perfect diagrams for the perfect start 🙂

Thank you for making this.

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American History Activities

American history activities bring the past to life for middle school students. Tweens love getting out of the textbook and spending time completing projects, reading living books, cooking authentic meals, playing historical games.

If your older kids feel that history is boring, it’s easier to keep them engaged when you use hands-on activities like these to make the subject more interactive.

This huge list is full of fun things you can add to your lesson plans when you’re studying United States history to make it more exciting for tweens.

It includes activities and projects for a range of time periods and events, including the 13 Colonies, the American Revolution, the westward expansion, and more.

Choose a few and add them to your tween’s next history lesson and see how more exciting the subject becomes.

Any links in this post may be affiliate links. See my disclosure statement .

Table of Contents

Why Should You Use American History Activities?

As you know, there is so much to study and learn about American history. While it’s easier to give teens a textbook and have them just read about history, that will most likely make them hate the subject.

Without hands-on activities like these, kids won’t fully understand that the history of the United States is rich and interesting. They’ll assume it’s dry and boring and dread the subject.

But when you bring it alive with fun projects, games, living books, and more, they are engaged and open to learning. This is how kids learn best.

You can even make it even easier by using an all-inclusive program like this hands-on history kit .

So now’s the time to make history enjoyable by using awesome tools like these in your homeschool.

Colonial America Games and Activities

In the late 1600s, men and women came to a new land looking for freedom and adventure, wanting to build a new union. The American Indians were well established on this land with a successful society of their own. They both make up the story of Colonial America.

As part of your study on the 13 Colonies, take some time to complete a few of these fun activities with your tweens to help them understand what life was like for those early settlers.

When you’re studying early American history, play these fun, Colonial games for children popular in those days with your tweens as part of your lessons.

When you’re making your history lesson plans, take the time to go exploring the 13 Colonies with books and videos .

Discover more about Colonial America with this 13 Colonies notebooking unit . It includes interesting study questions and fun activities for tweens.

Spend some time combining geography and history with these Colonial map activities .

Teach tweens how much help the American Indians gave the settlers by cooking some Native American corn recipes as part of your Colonial history lessons.

Your tween can use these myths and facts about the first Thanksgiving as part of a presentation as part of a history lesson.

American Revolution Hands-on Activities

Are you a loyalist or a patriot? That was the question of the time during the events leading up to and during the American Revolution. It eventually led to the birth of our country, but it wasn’t easy getting to an autonomous union.

Help teens understand the issues facing the colonists with these hands-on projects.

My tween had a lot of fun with these two American Revolution hands-on activities . She loved using her American Girl dolls as part of school, so she especially enjoyed creating the historical silhouette.

One of our absolute favorite activity was this American Revolution artifact project . Abigail made a teapot that was representative of those used in the 1700s.

Pioneer Activities

Head west was the rallying cry of many after we became a nation. The colonies were getting crowded and people were looking for something more. They wanted to explore. So they packed up their wagons and headed west.

It’s easy to for teens to get a glimpse of what life was like for the American pioneers when you use these fun hands-on activities as part of your pioneer lesson plans.

When you’re learning about the American pioneers, spend some time in the kitchen making these pioneer recipes . Teens love food, so they’ll appreciate this unique way to study history.

These pioneer crafts were once functional tools used by the pioneers. Tweens can make them as part of their history studies to get a better understanding of the life of the pioneers.

In your homeschool, when you learn about the pioneers, this American Pioneer notebooking unit should be a part of your middle school lesson plan. It will make planning easy because kids can use it to direct their learning. Plus, there’s some fun activities included.

Make this pioneer braided rug craft as part of your history lessons.

Use these pioneer life activities with your middle schoolers to give them an idea what daily life was like for the early settlers. Things like drawing a life-sized log cabin, making a quilt, and cooking some recipes will make tweens feel like they went back in time.

Show tweens how difficult the journey was for the American pioneers by studying their mode of transportation – the covered wagon. There are 6 covered wagon activities to choose from.

Here are some American pioneer books and resources you can use in your homeschool when you’re studying this part of United States history.

As you study the American Pioneers, use these Pioneer hands-on activities to engage your tweens. They can cook an authentic pioneer meal, make a covered wagon, play some games, and more.

California Gold Rush Activities

The discovery of gold is what led so many individuals to California. They heard about people striking it rich and wanted it for themselves. But it wasn’t as easy to find and mine gold as they thought, so many left just as poor as when they arrived.

These books and activities will help tweens understand what drove so many to pick up and leave their families just for a chance at fortune.

When your tweens begin studying about the discovery of gold in the United States, this California Gold Rush activity should be a part of your lesson plan. The notebooking and unit study will help you plan your lessons and is a great way for tweens to keep track of everything they’re learning.

Use these gold rush books as a part of your study on the California Gold Rush and wild west. Living books like these make it easy to engage older kids in history.

Civil War Activities

The Civil War pitted friends against friends and brother against brother. It divided our nation. It was a costly war that both sides were willing to die for.

These activities will help your tweens gain a deeper understanding of this dark period of our nation’s history.

These Civil War hands-on activities are a wonderful addition to your lesson plans.

The activities below all cover a variety of time periods, so you can easily add them to your history lesson plans whenever you need something interactive for your teen.

These American history board games make the subject fun for tweens. They’re a wonderful way to help them memorize all the dates and facts that are a part of history class. I try to add them to my lesson plans as often as possible.

When you’re studying history in your homeschool, let your tween make an early American quilt . It’s actually quite easy to do and will give her a chance to work on some life skills. You can see the doll-sized ones that my girls made during our history lessons.

Teach your older kids about the contributions American women have made over the years with fun, interactive resources.

A fun way to add science to your history lessons is to study Ben Franklin’s inventions . There are a bunch that kids can easily create to learn more about his important contributions to our world.

Make sure to add some lessons about the American Presidents to your middle school history plans. These resources and activities will make it a breeze for you to teach your tweens about the highest office in our country and the men who have held it over the years.

If you’re struggling to get your tweens to remember their Liberty Bell facts , use this helpful Liberty Bell scavenger hunt. It’s a great addition to your early United States history lessons.

Spend some time during your history lessons teaching flag etiquette to your kids. It’s important that they know all they can about this vital symbol of our country.

The Battle of the Alamo was an important event in our history and one that tweens should study in United States history. These resources and activities will help make it interesting for older kids.

Add some early American history videos to your lesson plans. Instead of just reading about history, tweens can watch it unfold.

Wondering how to make American history interesting for kids ? Here are some activities that are sure to engage your tweens and make history enjoyable for them.

If your tween loves American Girl and Minecraft, she’ll definitely want to take this American Girl Minecraft class . It’s a wonderful addition to your homeschool history lessons.

When you use Dave Raymond’s American history curriculum , there are some activities included that will help teens learn and discover how interesting history is.

Don’t struggle to find ideas for American history lessons and activities . This massive list is full of things you can do to make history interactive and fun for your tween.

As you can see, it’s quite simple to make history fun and interactive for middle schoolers. Tweens can do many of these projects and activities independently, so you won’t get overwhelmed adding them to your lesson plans.

Engaging older kids and giving them a glimpse various time periods and the people who lived during them is truly the best way to make history exciting for them. There’s no way your teens will claim that history is boring when their lessons are full of fun hands-on activities.

What American history activity is your tween going to try first?

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40+ Fascinating History Activities that Are Wonderful

As a mother, I understand the need to teach kids the history of their surroundings. This history helps them to broaden their vision👁️ and think differently about different situations. It helps in their development in all aspects of life.

These types of activities help your children make their day more interesting☺️ and productive. They get to spend their time on useful things instead of spending it on phones or TV📺.

Kids love to explore new activities as they get bored🥱 easily. These activities provide your kids with freshness and will add fun to their lives. These activities serve both purposes of enjoyment and education🤓.

Interesting History Activities for Your Kids

You’ve come to the perfect spot if you’re looking for some entertaining😆 and engaging history activities for your kids!

I would recommend engaging and entertaining history activities that will help them develop their skills in all areas, be educational📚 as well as pleasurable, and make them feel good while doing them. 

It will help them gain some knowledge about their history, which can be useful in the future. Their dull 🥱 day will become fascinating with the help of these activities.

I’ve put together a list of fun😎 and useful history activities for you and your children in this blog article. This blog will undoubtedly assist you in discovering some fresh, kid-friendly activities.

Family Timeline

You can gather your kids together and make them draw their family👪 timeline. Let them name all their elders, including great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and siblings. 

Provide them with chart paper, markers, scissors✂️, and scale. They will have a lot of fun and will get to know more about their family history. This will be an entertaining and fun-filled activity. 

I also made my kids perform this activity at home. Their boring🥱 day got more interesting, and they also got to learn new things. According to me, you should conduct this activity at home🏠 with your kids, as it will serve both purposes of enjoyment and productivity.

Decade Diary

You can make your kids create a decade diary at home🏠 covering all major events in that. Provide your kids with a diary📓, pens, and markers. 

This activity will help your kids learn about their nation’s history and geography. Their writing and observation skills will improve. They can pen down important events like the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly affected the world🌏.

My kids also performed this activity at home🏠. They created a very insightful and knowledgeable diary covering all major events in our history. This increased their knowledge in terms of the world’s history and geography.

Historical event newspaper

This is a worthwhile and fascinating😆 exercise. You can assign your kids a major historical event. Then, let them do thorough research and analysis on that topic and design a newspaper📰 on it. Provide your kids with chart paper, history books, markers, pens🖊️, and glue. 

This activity will help your kids to gain more knowledge and develop their creative skills. 

I think this is an activity that you should force your kids to complete at home because they will enjoy it so much and learn new skills. You can guide them through this activity as they might face some difficulties while making the newspaper🗞️.

President Timeline

You can assign your children to make a timeline⌛ of presidents. All previous presidents’ names can be written down, along with a note of the significant measures and directives they implemented. 

Your children will gain a better understanding of national politics and the workings of the president’s office🏢 thanks to this. 

They may find this to be a novel experience that they greatly relish and find enjoyable. Provide your kids with chart papers, markers, and black pens🖊️. 

I made my kids do this activity at home🏠. It was banter full of smiles and laughter😆. They got to gain more knowledge in the fields of politics and public affairs. You can let your kids do this activity, as it will make their day useful and productive.

Historical Board Game

You can create a board game covering all major historical events and then let your kids play this. It will require cardboard, colored sheets, black chart paper, markers, glue, and scissors✂️. 

This game will require your kids to make strategies and be competitive to win. You can keep some rewards for them to make the game interesting and exciting😆.

 I also made my kids and their friends play this game at home🏠. The joy and happiness they were feeling were visible on their faces. I strongly recommend you try this activity with your kids at home.

Art history Timeline

You can let your kids prepare a timeline covering all the different art styles🖼️ and movements that happened in the past. This can include events like the Renaissance, ancient art, pop art, impressionism, and expressionism. 

Provide your kids with chart papers, photos of art styles, and markers🖊️. They will get to learn more about their culture, beauty, and art forms.

In my opinion, these types of activities help kids gain confidence😌 and improve their skills, which will aid their development in the future. You should conduct these activities for the betterment of your kids.

Fashion Evolution Timeline

Nowadays, kids are very obsessed with fashion👚. They love to wear trendy clothes and maintain trendy hairstyles. You can make your kids design a fashion timeline covering how fashion changed throughout the years. 

They can write about how fashion has modernized and updated. This will be an interesting😆 activity and will suit your kids’ interests. 

My kids also performed this activity at home. They were so interested in this activity because they loved dressing up and wanted to learn more about the items they were wearing.

You should conduct this activity at home🏡 for your kids to understand that clothes represent a person’s personality, too.

Historical figures ‘Guess who’

You can make your kids guess important historical events or figures through their photos📷. This will be a fun and exciting activity.

 It will test your kids’ general knowledge and current affairs. This will also provide them a chance to learn more about their history and important events that impacted people’s lives. You can also give your kids some hints or clues if they face any difficulty😥.

I also took this test for my kids. It was a very productive🤓 and fruitful activity. I got to know how much knowledge they have about their past. You should also conduct this activity with your kids to test their skills and knowledge.

Historical events as comics

You can let your kids make a comic based on any historical event. This will be a fun😆 and exciting activity. 

Comics are loved and read by most of the kids. They get fascinated by comic characters and their dialogues💭. But have you thought that making a comic will be more interesting? Your kids will get to learn their history alongside having fun making a comic based on it. 

Provide your kids with a notebook📒, markers, scale, and pencil✏️.

In my opinion, this activity will provide some freshness to your kids’ lives. Their creative💡 and inventive skills will improve. To help your children do something worthwhile and productive, assign them this task to complete at home🏡.

Scientific discoveries timeline

You can make your kids design a timeline covering major scientific🧪 discoveries throughout history. 

They will get to learn how machines and technology were improved to the current stage. Provide your kids with chart paper, markers, and scale. This activity will make your kids’ boring🥱 day productive and creative. 

My kids also did this activity at home. They were intrigued by technological developments that the world🌏 had made over the years. They had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things through this activity.

Space exploration timeline

You can make your kids design a timeline covering all space🌃 achievements and failures achieved by their nation. They can write about all the rockets🚀 and satellites launched into space in chronological order. 

To create a perfect timeline, they should conduct proper research and analysis on their topic and provide specific details. Your children will enjoy this activity and learn something new at the same time.

This was a really fun😆 activity for my kids to do. They gained a wealth of knowledge and enhanced their abilities. It is advisable to assign your children this task at home🏡 as well. Their dull day will become more engaging as a result.

War and Peace Timeline

You can give your children the task of creating a timeline that lists all the major wars⚔️ and treaties that have occurred in their country’s history in chronological order. 

They will learn more about geography and history as a result of this. Major treaties like the Treaty of Ghent, the Battle of York, and the Battle of Plattsburgh may be among them. Give your children a scale, markers🖊️, and chart paper.

At home, I forced my kids to complete this task as well. Together, they had a great time looking through and investigating the past. They had a novel and enjoyable experience that will affect their lives going forward.

Prepare a skit

You can gather your kids and their friends🤝 and let them prepare a skit on any major historical event. You can help them in preparing dialogues and the narration of skits. This will help your kids gain the confidence💪 to speak boldly in public and formal places.

Cheer them when they present this skit in front of everyone; it will make them feel comfortable and more energetic.

My kids and their friends did this activity at home🏠. They had a lot of fun preparing a skit together. They got to understand each other more, and their bond got closer and stronger🤝. This skit also got them to relate to that specific historical event.

Natural history timeline

You can let your kids design a timeline covering all changes that happened in nature🏞️ like modernization, deforestation, and development in technology. It can cover all major movements for the protection of the environment🌱. 

Provide your kids with chart papers, markers, pens🖊️, and scales. This will help your kids to gain more knowledge about their environment and the need to protect it. They should know how important it is to reduce globalization and pollution💨 otherwise, the world can be in danger. 

According to me, this is a very fun-filled and educational activity. It will also help your kids to develop good research and observation skills.

Music Timeline

You can let your children create a timeline that traces changes in the music🎶 business. It can discuss the transition of music from record players to mobile streaming. 

These days, kids are really into listening to a variety of musical genres, including pop, jazz, soul, funk, opera, and more. They will become engrossed in this task and give it their all. They will learn more about the advancements made in the field of music🎸 through this activity. 

At home, I forced my kids to complete this task as well. I played a wide variety of music, both old and new. They were interested in learning more. Enjoyment😆 and productivity were the two goals of this activity.

Historical landmarks timeline

You can let your children create a timeline that includes all of the significant historical events. Give your children scissors✂️, markers, pens, chart paper, and scales.

 If they run into any problems with this exercise, you can help. It will assist them in learning🤓 more about their country’s history and significant historical events that have shaped it.

 I think this is a fruitful and educational exercise. To increase your children’s general knowledge, you must force them to perform it at home🏡.

Disease and Medicine timeline

Your children can create a timeline that covers all significant illnesses😷 and the advancements in medical science throughout history. Among these are prominent physicians who conducted studies on the particular illnesses that surfaced. 

Give your children some chart paper, pens🖊️, scales, and markers. It will teach your children more and make them realize how hard it is to find a medical cure.

I made my kids do this activity at home🏠. They got to learn a lot of things about medicine and were curious to know more. Overall, this was a very meaningful and productive activity. It helped them improve their concentration🤔 and creativity.

These fun😆 activities, all related to history, will add extra enjoyment and fun to your kids’ day. Your children will learn more and acquire new skills from these activities. 

Without a doubt, your kids will have a great time and learn a lot from these activities. I hope reading about the history activities your kids can do was enjoyable for you. 

Your children will benefit from their enhanced capacity for creativity and observation 🤏. Kids are always eager to try new things because they love the freshness of them.

Please leave a comment below if you have any questions for me to address or if you have any suggestions for additional activities to include in this list. I would be grateful to hear from you! ❤️

I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. I’m here to help you with play-based learning activities and crafts for kids ages 0 – 8. ( Cledemy.com is my Next startup on Pre to 8th Grade Printable and Worksheet Education Resources)

Join our active Facebook group for creative and fun activities, games, and other child development ideas.

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Unforgettable experiences and activities to elevate your visit to Massachusetts

N estled in the heart of New England, Massachusetts is a captivating state that offers a rich tapestry of history, culture and natural beauty. 

Whether you're a history enthusiast, an outdoor adventurer, a foodie or an art aficionado, the Bay State has something to offer every traveler. 

From the lively and historic streets of Boston to the serene and inviting shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts emerges as a destination brimming with unique and unforgettable experiences. 

MOOSE MAKES SURPRISE VISIT OUTSIDE MASSACHUSETTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

As you embark on this journey, here is a guide to some of the finest things to do while exploring this remarkable state.

• Discover the rich history of Boston
• Experience the arts and culture
• Explore the natural beauty
• Savor culinary delights
• Embrace educational opportunities
• Enjoy outdoor activities
• Discover quaint New England towns
• Celebrate festivals and events

A journey to Massachusetts wouldn't be truly fulfilling without embarking on an exploration of Boston , a city steeped in history and one of the oldest in the United States. Wander through time as you traverse the famous Freedom Trail, a 2½-mile-long path that winds its way through 16 historical landmarks. 

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Along this route, you'll encounter the grandeur of the Massachusetts State House, Paul Revere's House and the storied Old North Church.

To delve deeper into the nation's revolutionary past, venture to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. Here, you'll immerse yourself in the events that ignited the American Revolution, gaining a firsthand understanding of the Boston Tea Party. And while you're in the city, don't miss the chance to explore the USS Constitution Museum, home to the world's oldest commissioned warship that still graces the seas with its presence, providing a living testament to the country's maritime history.

Massachusetts is a haven for cultural enthusiasts, offering a vibrant cultural scene enriched with world-class museums and theaters. Immerse yourself in the world of art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where you'll discover a treasure trove of artistic masterpieces spanning various centuries and cultures.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, OCTOBER 21, 1797, LEGENDARY WARSHIP USS CONSTITUTION IS LAUNCHED IN BOSTON

For a taste of contemporary art, head over to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), which consistently showcases cutting-edge exhibitions that push the boundaries of artistic expression.

If history and literature are more to your liking, a visit to the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst or the House of the Seven Gables in Salem will transport you to different eras, offering a glimpse into the lives and times of these renowned figures.

For a sensory feast, experience the magic of live performances. 

Revel in the renowned Tanglewood Music Festival in the picturesque Berkshires or be captivated by the allure of Broadway shows at the elegant Boston Opera House. Massachusetts truly offers a rich tapestry of cultural experiences for all to enjoy.

Massachusetts is graced with a tapestry of diverse landscapes, from the idyllic coastline to the undulating hills and verdant forests. Among its gems, Cape Cod stands out as a beloved summer haven, renowned for its pristine beaches, picturesque villages and breathtaking natural vistas.

Venture to the Cape Cod National Seashore to immerse yourself in the unspoiled beauty of the shoreline, partake in the thrill of whale watching or pedal along the enchanting Cape Cod Rail Trail on a scenic bike ride. In the Berkshires, be prepared to embark on invigorating hikes along trails that offer breathtaking vistas. 

In the autumn, the landscape transforms into a painter's palette of brilliant foliage, creating an enchanting spectacle.

For the intrepid outdoor enthusiasts, it's worth noting that the Appalachian Trail traverses through Massachusetts, presenting an epic opportunity for those who seek an unforgettable journey through the state's wilderness. Massachusetts offers a cornucopia of outdoor experiences, from coastal serenity to the rugged heights of the Berkshires and beyond.

Massachusetts beckons food enthusiasts with its culinary scene, characterized by a commitment to fresh seafood, farm-to-table dining and a tantalizing array of international flavors.

For a quintessential taste of New England, savor a bowl of clam chowder at a Boston waterfront restaurant, where the sea meets your plate. Alternatively, on the shores of Cape Cod, relish the sumptuousness of lobster rolls, a coastal delicacy that captures the essence of the region.

Venturing into Boston's North End , known as Little Italy, offers an Italian gastronomic voyage like no other, featuring mouthwatering pastries and authentic pizza that transport your taste buds to the heart of Italy.

TRAVEL EXPERT REVEALS THE BEST TIPS FOR AMERICANS LOOKING TO SAVE BIG ON THEIR NEXT VACATION

For those who appreciate the farm-to-table philosophy, head to the Pioneer Valley, where the movement flourishes. Here, you can delight in locally sourced dishes served in restaurants, showcasing the flavors and freshness of the region in every savory bite. 

Massachusetts truly presents a culinary journey filled with diverse and delicious experiences.

Within the Bay State, you'll find an array of esteemed educational institutions, counting Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) among its treasures. 

If you're a curious soul in pursuit of knowledge, seize the opportunity to explore these hallowed campuses, attend enlightening public lectures and uncover the intellectual gems within.

For those with a penchant for history, Massachusetts offers a trove of enlightening destinations. Immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of the past by visiting the renowned Harvard Museum of Natural History , where the wonders of the natural world unfold before your eyes. 

Alternatively, you can delve into the annals of both state and national history by visiting the Massachusetts Historical Society and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, both of which offer insights into the historical legacy of Massachusetts and the United States as a whole.

Whether you're gliding along the tranquil waters of the Charles River in a kayak, carving through the snowy slopes in the western part of the state on skis or taking a dip in the crystalline waters of the picturesque Walden Pond, Massachusetts offers an abundance of options for nature lovers.

For a coastal escape, set your sights on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, where you can embark on boating escapades, meander along the sun-kissed beaches in search of treasures and unwind amid the soothing sounds of the ocean.

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When winter descends, the Berkshires beckon with their snow-covered slopes, offering the perfect playground for skiing enthusiasts.

Alternatively, if you prefer a more leisurely cold-weather pursuit, lace up your skates and twirl on the ice at the Boston Common Frog Pond. Massachusetts provides an array of outdoor adventures for all seasons.

Massachusetts is dotted with picturesque New England towns that offer a glimpse into a bygone era. 

Salem, renowned for its infamous witch trials, offers a chance to wander the historic streets and delve into the enigmatic past. In Concord, the homes of literary luminaries like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott stand as testaments to the literary legacy of the region.

Marblehead, exuding colonial charm and blessed with harbor views, is another hidden gem waiting to be discovered. 

These New England towns not only captivate with their timeless beauty but also provide a glimpse into the unique culture and heritage that define the region's rich history.

Throughout the year, Massachusetts hosts a wide range of festivals and events. 

In Boston, the Fourth of July celebration on the Esplanade, including the famous Boston Pops Orchestra performance and fireworks display, is a must-see. Experience the Big E, the Eastern States Exposition, a massive fair with regional food, rides and entertainment. 

For the literary crowd, the Boston Book Festival brings together authors, readers and book lovers from around the world.

Massachusetts is a state of boundless opportunities for adventure, culture, history and natural beauty. 

Whether you're strolling through the historic streets of Boston, indulging in culinary delights or immersing yourself in the arts and culture, there's something for every traveler in the Bay State. 

With its rich history, picturesque landscapes and vibrant cities, Massachusetts is a destination that offers an unforgettable experience. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle .

Original article source: Unforgettable experiences and activities to elevate your visit to Massachusetts

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7 Super Fun History Games to Bring the Past to Life

November 3, 2021 | Leave a Comment This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy .

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Today, I have 7 super fun history games . Do your kiddos groan and moan about history?  You’ll love the other  history games   I have too.

What is it about history that can make it so boring? 

Because, really , history is so full of interesting facts and stories.

Let’s make history fun and exciting!  Let’s make it (dare I say it?!) your child’s favorite subject!  

It’s a favorite subject around our house and I firmly believe that is because we use so many games in our history lessons!

Table of Contents

Fun History Games

I’m going to be sharing 7 super fun history games that you can use in your homeschool to bring the past to life!  Let’s get started!

1) Made for Trade

Time Period: Colonial America

Players: 2 to 4 Game Length: 5 to 30 minutes (depending on which version you play)

We have been studying US history this year and Made for Trade has been so fun! 

This is a board game, shop cards, character pawns, dice, and shillings. 

This history game comes with 3 versions to play! The first game is a version of Spoons called Shillings where players try to get five cards from the same shop (blacksmith, potter, silversmith, etc.). 

I was really happy to find instructions for this game because my 5 year old could play this with no help and the kids are becoming familiar with items that were sold in different shops during Colonial America. The 2nd and 3rd versions of the game are very similar. 

In the first version players work their way around the village buying or trading items from the village shops trying to acquire any 4 objects from the shops. 

Players also have to pay taxes and get paid as they move around the spaces. 

The 3rd version, players are also trying to acquire cards, but this time they are specific items on an inventory card for their character. 

This version also adds in event cards such as a smallpox outbreak that has kids learning even more about American History. 

Made for Trade is a great game to introduce your children to US History!

History Games for Elementary Students

2) guess in 10: states of america and countries of the world.

Time Period: N/A

Ages: All Ages

Players: 2 to 6

Game Length: 5 minutes to as long as you want!

This game isn’t really history, but more geography.

I included it in my list because it is perfect for families with a wide age range, and besides, we all need to know states and countries! 

Ask up to 10 questions to guess the state of America or country on the game card! There are 50 game cards and 6 clue cards in each game. 

This would be fun for traveling or at the dinner table for some fun dinner time trivia! 

There are other sets, too, like landmarks, animals, underwater, foods around the world, dinosaurs, and more!

3)  Brain Box World History

Time Period: All of History

Players: 1 or more players

Game Length: 5 minutes or as long as you want! 

Brain Box World History is a memory game and a history game in one!

Players look at the front of a card for 10 seconds. 

Then, they flip over the card and roll the die. Another player reads the question corresponding to the number on the die. 

If you get it correct, you get to keep the card; if you get the answer wrong, the card goes back in the box. The player with the most cards after 10 minutes (or some agreed upon time) wins! 

There is also a one player game version where a single player can try to get as many cards as he or she can in 10 minutes. 

This is a great way to introduce different events in history!

4) Timeline: Historical Events .

Time Period: All of history

Ages: 8 and up

Game Length: About 15 minutes

What is it about?

There are so many of the Timeline games and they can all be mixed together for some real fun!

The basic idea of the game is simple – start with a random card and then arrange other historical events either before or after it depending on when they happened in history.

These games are quick, fun, and a great way to learn when events happened.

This is also a great game for introducing lots of events and seeing which ones your children would like to dive deeper into. Other decks include Inventions, more Historical Events, and British history.

The cards come in a tin, like the Spot It, which makes it easy to store or take with you on the go!

Note: If you are looking for a game like this for older children, be sure to check out Chronology . Ages 14+

5)  Professor Noggin: History of the United States

Time Period: US History (various times)

Players: 2 to 8

Game Length: About 15 to 30 minutes

Professor Noggin is a trivia type game where players try to collect cards by answering questions correctly. 

There are easy and hard questions on each card. 

When we play, my girls answer the easy questions and I answer the hard questions.  It makes for a pretty even playing field, so fun for everyone! 

On your turn you roll the die and another player reads the corresponding question to you. 

If you get it right you get to keep the card; if you get the history question wrong the card goes back in the pile. 

The questions will be either trivia, true/false, or multiple choice format. 

The first player to collect 10 cards win! There are several versions of Professor Noggin, so you can get whatever topic you are needing: US History, Art History, Medieval Times, Science, Geography, and more!

History Games for Middle and High School Students

6)  the grizzled.

Time Period: World War I

Players: 2 to 5

Game Length: About 30 minutes

There are so many games and movies about WWII, but in this game players are immersed in the trenches of WWI.

This is a fully cooperative game (think Pandemic) where players work together to stay alive until Armistice. Each round will face the hardships of war such as blizzards, gas attacks, and trauma.

Soldiers must use strategy and luck to stay alive together!

World War I can be glossed over in a lot of history studies, with so much emphasis put on WWII.

With The Grizzled, players can learn what it was like to try to survive during the miserable trench warfare of The Great War.

Reviewers state that it is simple and straightforward to learn, but the replay value is quite good!

One reviewer stated that he and his wife are at about 50% win rate, so that makes for exciting play! This would be a great game to play with older middle school or high school students.

7)   1775 Rebellion The American Revolution | Board Game

Freedom is currently not available. But the 1775 Rebellion the American Revolution is another favorite.

• 1775 is an area control game that is great for head-to-head or up to 4-player team play.
• 1775 Rebellion is the second title in the Birth of America series after 1812 – The Invasion of Canada.

Time Period: Slavery and Civil War

Ages: 13 and up 

Players: 1 to 4 players

Game Length: 60 to 90 minutes

Freedom is a cooperative game where players try to raise funds, free slaves, and end slavery in America.

As they play, players learn about historical figures, political agendas, and important events that occurred between 1800 and 1865.

This game won the 2013 Best Game Quest Awards for Best Coop Game and was nominated for 2014 Origins Award Best Historical Game! 

Freedom would be a great interactive way to cover the time period leading up to the Civil War. Also, look at the huge Civil War lapbook unit study here.

History Games Bring the Past to Life

These games are just the tip of the iceberg, let me tell you!  If you are struggling to get your kiddos to get interested in history, try one (or more!) of these games and see them get hooked! 

I hope you’ve found some useful resources to add to history in your homeschool this year!

Happy learning!

Look at these other fun history learning resources here:

• 22 Famous Texans Notebooking Pages (editable) For a Fun History Study
• History of the Texas Cowboy, Cattle Drives, and Chisholm Trail
• 35 Simple But Powerful American History Homeschool Resources K to 12
• Daniel Boone – North American Explorer Unit Study and Free Lapbook
• Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

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Celebrate and view the solar eclipse!

Enjoy a variety of hands-on activities and observe the eclipse safely.

A limited number of eclipse glasses will be distributed between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm while supplies last, one per person. 

The eclipse will be visible from 2:04 pm to 4:32 pm. At 3:20 pm (maximum eclipse) the Moon will block 87% of the Sun. 

Download the Map

More About the Festival

Predicting Eclipses

Investigate how people track solar eclipses and make a paper sundial to begin your own observations.   Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Sunsational Structures

Explore solar-centric architectural marvels.   Presented by the National Building Museum

Colors of the Sun

Use a prism or spectrograph to look for patterns hidden in the sunlight.    Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Eclipse Across the Universe

Understand how the transit of planets across stars help us find planets outside our solar system.    Presented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Live View from Totality

Watch the total eclipse livestream.   Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Speaking of the Sky

Play a game that uses Indigenous languages to describe celestial bodies. Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian

Multisensory Observations

Take in the eclipse with more than your eyes using tactile models and sound.   Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Gardens of the Galaxy

Compare how plants grow on Earth and how they grow in space.    Presented by Smithsonian Gardens

Ultraviolet Vision

Observe the Sun through a satellite's UV cameras to see solar storms.   Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Explore how radio astronomy observes our Universe.   Presented by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Yardstick Eclipse Model

Make your own solar eclipse using shadows on a yardstick.    Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Launch a Satellite into Space

Have fun learning about satellites, launches, orbits, and how NOAA fits in.    Presented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Pinhole Projection Camera

Create a projection that shows the unique shadows made by the eclipse.    Presented by the National Air and Space Museum

Model the Eclipse

Create your own portable eclipse model to learn the science behind the splendor.   Presented by the U.S. National Science Foundation

Sunlight on the National Mall

View the arc of the Sun as it moves over the Smithsonian Castle during the day.    Presented by the Smithsonian Science Education Center

Estimating Height by Hand

Learn how to use just your hands to estimate the height of the Castle.    Presented by the Smithsonian Science Education Center

Multisensory Celestial Access

Experience the sky through sound and touch.    Presented by the National Museum of Natural History

Benjamin Banneker's 1793 Almanack

Create your own Sun art and learn about Banneker, his almanac, and African American solar scientists.    Presented by the National Museum of African American History & Culture

The Power of Sunlight

Learn about the light sensitivity of objects in NMAA's collections and test your knowledge of how materials react to light.    Presented by the National Museum of Asian Art

Sponsored by Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons

This festival is presented by the National Air and Space Museum, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. 

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Introducing History to Preschoolers: A Guide for Early Childhood Educators

This guide will cover a number of activities, strategies, and topics you can use to introduce history lessons in fun and impactful ways.

• brightwheel

Teaching history to young children can do more than just entertain them with remarkable stories of the past—it can also be used to teach valuable lessons, introduce unique new concepts, and lay a foundation for further learning exploration. 

While the thought of introducing history to preschoolers may seem like an overwhelming task for many early childhood educators, considering the vast amount of content and complexity held within history books, this guide will cover several activities, strategies, and topics you can use to make history lessons fun, engaging, and impactful for your children. 

How to introduce history to preschoolers

While history may seem like a collection of names, dates, and events, at its core, it’s about the passage of time and learning about the past. Helping young children understand the concept of time and “the past” can help make introducing history to preschoolers easier to understand. For example, you can use a timer or hourglass to show children how time passes and talk about things they experienced in minutes, hours, or weeks before. 

From there, you can find topics that entertain children and engage their interests. One of the best ways to introduce history is to start with concepts that children can immediately relate to, like dinosaurs, the invention of trains, or the discovery of America or Canada. 

Another strategy is to have children learn about their own family history and create a family tree with pictures or drawings to share with the rest of the class. Introducing children to the idea of family history can open up further discussions about events that took place in the past and naturally segue into other historical topics. You can further teach historical topics by reading age-appropriate stories or bringing in “artifacts” from the past the children can examine. 

History books for preschoolers

If you’re looking for a list of engaging history books that your children will love, here are a few age-appropriate options to consider:

Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See? by Chris Ferrie

A scientific adaptation of the beloved children’s book “ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? ,” this version introduces young children to famous scientists like Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and more. 

John, Paul, George, and Ben by Lane Smith

A fun and witty book about the childhood of America’s founding fathers, John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Ben Franklin (not to mention the “troublesome” Thomas Jefferson too). 

Bach to the Rescue!!! by Tom Angleberger

Give children an introduction to the history of music with this zany, nontraditional story of the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who helps save a sleepy, grumpy town. 

Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Dean Robbins

A story that teaches children about two historical figures who fought for civil rights (one for equal pay for women and the other against slavery and, later, segregation). While the themes are complex, the story is told in an engaging way that is easy for children to understand.  

You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! by Shana Corey

Amelia Bloomer hated the painful clothes “proper women” were expected to wear in the mid-1800s, so she introduced more comfortable “bloomers” for women to wear instead of heavy, tight dresses. 

A Medieval Feast by Aliki

Teach children the fascinating details about how feasts were prepared for kings and queens in the feudal era, with beautiful art showing fashion, farming, cooking, and castles from the time. 

We’re Sailing Down the Nile by Laurie Krebsl

This colorful rhyming book introduces children to the wonders of ancient Egypt, from mummies to bustling markets to the magnificent pyramids.

Historical figures

If you want lessons to focus on singular historical figures, here are a few that should be at the top of your list:  

Founding fathers

From Washington to Franklin to Jefferson, the founding fathers were instrumental in the birth of America as a single nation. 

Civil rights leaders

When teaching young children about the history of America, it’s important to tell the stories of people who fought for equality and rights for all. People like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and many more were instrumental in making the country a better place to live for everyone. 

Famous women 

From abolitionists like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman to inventors like Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie to women who defied the odds like Helen Keller and Amelia Earhart, there are many stories of women who made history in ways that young children can still relate to, and be amazed by, today. 

Other famous leaders

Discussing famous leaders like Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Nelson Mandela, and more can be a great way to teach children about important decisions that were made while easily segueing into historical events that were happening at the time. 

If you’re looking to incorporate history lessons into your curriculum, brightwheel’s lesson plan feature allows you to create custom lesson plans, log observations, and share progress with parents to celebrate the unique history knowledge children in your class will gain throughout the year. 

History activities for preschoolers

Here are some engaging activities to help introduce history to your preschoolers while celebrating several diverse groups and important figures in America. 

Black History Month activities

Black History Month , celebrated in February in the United States and Canada, is a time to recognize and celebrate Black people’s achievements and contributions throughout history. 

Introduce children to George Washington Carver

Invite children to learn about George Washington Carver , a pioneer in agricultural science. Carver is known for his work with peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. Young botanists can grow their own sweet potato plants with this fun experiment ! 

Learn about space and Black history

Space enthusiasts will enjoy learning about Mae Jemison and Neil Degrasse Tyson. Check out Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed and talk with children about what might be needed for a trip to space. This could be a great imaginary play prompt! 

Illustrate Black history with art

Paint portraits inspired by contemporary artists like Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald. Wiley, who painted the portrait of President Barack Obama , and Sherald, who painted the portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama , both have beautiful and distinct styles. Invite students to explore their paintings. What do they notice about them? What colors and shapes do they see? Children can use art materials of all colors and shades to create self-portraits or portraits of significant figures in Black history.

Women’s History Month activities

Women’s History Month , celebrated each March in the U.S., is a powerful time to recognize and celebrate the various achievements and vital impact women have had throughout American history.

Make an astronaut helmet

Teach children about Sally Ride, the first woman to go to outer space. Help them create their own DIY space helmets by using simple materials like paper plates, construction paper, and markers. 

Fly paper airplanes

Read the book I Am Amelia Earhart by Brad Meltzer about the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Then, challenge the children to build and test their own paper airplanes , using construction paper and a basic paper airplane diagram as a visual.

Create paper flowers

Georgia O’Keeffe was a visual artist known for her paintings and drawings. She especially loved painting flowers. After sharing some of O’Keefe’s work with your class, create your own paper flowers inspired by the artist’s style using construction paper, tissue paper, scissors, and glue. There’s no better way to honor an artist's legacy than by creating art.

Hispanic Heritage Month activities

Hispanic Heritage Month , observed from September 15 to October 15, is a great time to teach children about Hispanic cultures, histories, and contributions of Latin American citizens to the United States.

Make a sombrero

Try this preschool-friendly sombrero craft with your class. All you need is a paper plate, a plastic cup, a few fuzzy pom poms, and some yarn. 

Make and play maracas

Children love making music. Help them create homemade maracas using plastic easter eggs, plastic spoons, dry rice or beans, and painter's tape. Ask the children to pour the dry rice or beans into the easter egg. Then close the egg and tape it shut along the seams. Next, place the egg into the heads of the spoons and tape them. Finally, tape the spoon handles together to create a maraca. Experiment with different ingredients in the eggs so children can hear the different sounds they make. 

Celebrate Frida Kahlo

Teach your class about the influential Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, by reading the picture book Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown. This book centers on the many pets that inspired her art and life.

Juneteenth activities

Juneteenth is an annual observance of the end of slavery in the United States, celebrated on June 19. It officially became a federal holiday in June 2021. 

Read books about Juneteenth 

While the topic of slavery can be challenging to discuss with young children, books like Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper or Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford can help teach children about the history of Juneteenth with age-appropriate language and illustrations.

Create a Juneteenth flag

The Juneteenth flag was created by Ben Haith, founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF), in 1997. Using red, white, and blue construction paper, you and your preschool class can create your own Juneteenth flag to honor the holiday. 

Listen to Juneteenth songs

Songs are a great way to help children learn and retain information. Educational Youtube channels like Gracie’s Corner and shows like Sesame Street are great options for songs and stories about Juneteenth and the celebration of freedom.

While history may seem challenging to introduce to preschoolers, there is no shortage of remarkable people, topics, and stories from history to engage young children and inspire them to learn more about events from the past. By incorporating simple activities that focus on a particular historical event or individual, you can teach your children valuable lessons and lay a foundation for future learning. 

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Enter the following information in this Padlet .

Column 1: subject headings you find searching OSCAR, LINK+, or WorldCat

Column 2: Subject terms you find searching America: History & Life

Column 3: Potential primary sources you find on your topic

Column 4: People, organizations, general ideas for future exploration

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• Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024 6:59 PM
• URL: https://libguides.scu.edu/AmericanHistory