History · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Heating Homes: From Fires to Central Heating

Active learning turns abstract comparisons into lived experiences for six-year-olds. Handling replica irons, sorting real artefacts, and stepping through a timeline lets children feel the weight of a coal scuttle or the smooth click of a thermostat, making historical change memorable and personal.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: History - Changes within living memory

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 35 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: Coal Fire Family

Divide class into small groups to act out a 1950s family tending a coal fire: one pupil shovels coal, another pokes the fire, others huddle for warmth. Switch roles to a modern family adjusting a thermostat. Groups share one difference they noticed. Conclude with whole-class discussion.

What do you notice about how people kept warm in their homes long ago?

Facilitation Tip

For the role-play, provide real coal scuttles, long-handled pokers, and replica irons so pupils feel the heft and responsibility involved in managing a fire.

What to look for

Show pupils pictures of a coal fire grate and a modern radiator. Ask them to point to the object that is older and explain one reason why it is different from the other.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Pairs

Artefact Sort: Past and Present Heaters

Provide pairs with images or safe replicas of fire tools, bellows, coal scuttles, and modern radiator parts. Pupils sort items into 'long ago' or 'today' trays and label with sticky notes. Pairs explain choices to another pair.

How is heating your home today different from having a coal fire?

Facilitation Tip

During the artefact sort, use magnifiers and gloves so every child handles metal grates, fire irons, and radiator valves, talking aloud about texture and use.

What to look for

Ask students: 'Imagine you lived in a house with only a coal fire. What jobs would you need to do every day to stay warm? How is this different from turning on the heating today?' Record their ideas on a chart comparing past and present.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 40 min · Whole Class

Timeline Walk: Heating Homes

Create a floor timeline from 1960 to now with stations showing coal fires, paraffin heaters, then gas and electric systems. Whole class walks it, stopping to draw or describe one change at each point. Add pupil drawings to class display.

What might it have felt like to live in a house without central heating?

Facilitation Tip

On the timeline walk, keep stops exactly one metre apart and have pupils carry small pictures of each heater to place on the line, reinforcing sequencing through physical movement.

What to look for

Give each student a card with two columns: 'Coal Fire' and 'Central Heating'. Ask them to draw or write one thing they learned about each, focusing on how it made the house feel or what people had to do.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Individual

Feeling the Heat: Sensory Comparison

Individuals feel safe heat sources like a warm stone (fire model), hot water bottle, and electric heater pad. Record feelings in journals: 'smoky and messy' vs 'clean and quick.' Share in pairs.

What do you notice about how people kept warm in their homes long ago?

Facilitation Tip

In the sensory comparison, heat two metal trays in advance and let children hover hands over the surfaces for three seconds only, then record their immediate reactions on sticky notes.

What to look for

Show pupils pictures of a coal fire grate and a modern radiator. Ask them to point to the object that is older and explain one reason why it is different from the other.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Stick to concrete comparisons: a child’s hand on a radiator today versus the sooty back of a hearth. Keep talk focused on daily tasks—shovelling coal, cleaning soot—so pupils grasp that modern systems trade labour for convenience. Avoid abstract timelines early; let the sensory and tactile experiences build the narrative first.

Children will confidently name key differences between past and present heating, describe the effort required in coal fires, and express how these changes made daily life simpler and safer. Look for accurate vocabulary and thoughtful comparisons in their talk and recorded work.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: Coal Fire Family, watch for comments that suggest people in the past had no way to heat homes.

  Use the iron and poker props during the role-play to show the constant tending required. Ask, ‘Who shovelled the coal this morning?’ and ‘Who cleaned the soot last night?’ to highlight the heavy daily work.

• During Artefact Sort: Past and Present Heaters, watch for children stating that coal fires were cleaner and safer.

  Ask pupils to run their fingers along the soot-blackened grate and then along the smooth radiator, prompting them to describe which feels safer to touch and why coal fires left residue everywhere.

• During Timeline Walk: Heating Homes, watch for ideas that central heating has always been in every home.

  Have pupils physically place a picture of a 1950s coal fire grate before a 1980s radiator on the timeline, using dates marked on the floor to show how recent central heating really is.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share