Tip Top Timelines
Here are four quick, fun timelines that will get your kids' creative juices flowing. Include any significant events that you study or read about. Don't forget to include important events in your children's lives, especially their birthdays! Add important current events as they occur, because by tomorrow, they'll be history!
Hanging on to History
Hammer two small nails into a wall, both at the same height and as far apart as is possible. Leave part of each nail protruding. Cut a piece of string long enough to reach from one nail to the other, plus about six inches. Tie each end of the string to one of the nails, making the string fairly taut.
The left nail will represent the beginning of recorded history. The right nail will represent today. Whenever your children read or study about an important event in history, have them draw a picture to represent the event. Have them write down a short description and the date somewhere on their drawing and cut it out.
Punch a hole at the top of the picture. Slide a paper clip through the hole. Hook the paper clip over the string so that the picture is in the correct order with respect to the other pictures hanging.
This is a unique, fun, and colorful addition to your school area or family room. Kids are proud to display their historical artwork!
Rolling with History
Purchase a roll of butcher paper (or obtain a newsprint end-roll). Draw a horizontal line down the center of the unrolled paper. Add cutout magazine pictures, drawings, stickers, etc. to represent the events that you study about.
You may want to draw a single timeline in a scale that will accommodate the information your children will be adding. Alternately, you could draw several smaller timelines with each covering a particular time period. This can be rolled and stored or taped to a wall. It's a simple method requiring no special tools.
Crunching Out History
If you have a computer, you could use a spreadsheet program or the table function in your favorite word processor to make an easily updatable timeline table!
Begin with four columns entitled: "When," "What," "Where," "Who," "Why," and "Resources." The when column includes date(s) of the event. The what column lists the details of event. The where column will include the place in which the event occurred. The who column will list the key participants in the event. The why column will give the reasons the event occurred and the related background. The resources column will list any books, activities, places, etc. where additional discoveries pertaining to this subject can be made.
Whenever you discover (or live through!) an event that is historically significant, you simply add a new row to your table and list the information.
This version can be printed whenever necessary and takes up no shelf or wall space. It is easy to alter, update, or change as needed. It also encourages kids to learn computer basics and it a great method for teens.
Booking through History
Fill a large loose-leaf binder with a number of pages of colorful cardstock. Each time you learn about a historical event, you fill a page with a description, date, and pictures or other visual representations of the event. Arrange the pages in chronological order.
When your book becomes bigger you can add dividers for different eras or centuries. Eventually you may have to keep separate volumes for each era and include an index in the front of each one.
This timeline is easy to store and transport. Your kids will spend a great deal of time browsing over their history scrapbooks and they will get a kick out of the pages they created when they were younger!