History · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Pre-Electricity Kitchens: Cooking and Cleaning

Active learning helps Year 1 students grasp changes in domestic life by letting them touch, taste, and try the tools and tasks of past kitchens. When children physically churn butter, scrub on a washboard, or sort images of old and new tools, they build lasting memories and correct misconceptions about pre-electricity households.

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

• 20–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: Victorian Kitchen Day

Divide class into family groups. Provide props like wooden spoons, aprons, and pretend fires. Groups rotate tasks: preserve fruit by 'salting' play dough models, cook a meal over flame, and wash clothes on mini washboards. End with sharing what was hardest. Debrief on differences from home today.

How do you think people kept their food fresh before refrigerators were invented?

Facilitation Tip

During the Role-Play Victorian Kitchen Day, assign clear roles such as cook, scullery maid, and laundry maid so every child takes part in the workflow.

What to look for

Provide students with two pictures: one of a modern refrigerator and one of a pantry with salted fish. Ask them to draw a line connecting the picture that shows how food was kept fresh before electricity and write one word explaining why.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Stations Rotation
• 25 min · Pairs

Sorting: Past and Present Tools

Prepare cards or objects showing old tools (washboard, coal scuttle) and modern ones (fridge, washing machine). In pairs, children sort into timelines and discuss uses. Extend by drawing their kitchen then and now.

What do you think doing the washing was like before washing machines?

Facilitation Tip

For the Sorting Past and Present Tools activity, give each pair a set of labelled images and ask them to group them into ‘cooking’ or ‘cleaning’ before deciding which is older.

What to look for

Ask students: 'Imagine you have to wash your family's clothes using only a washboard and a dolly peg. What would be the hardest part? How is this different from using a washing machine today?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 30 min · Pairs

Hands-On: Churn Butter Demo

Whole class watches teacher churn cream in a jar to make butter, linking to no-electricity cooking. Children then shake jars in pairs with cream and observe changes. Taste and record how it differs from shop butter.

What might a normal day at home have looked like a very long time ago?

Facilitation Tip

In the Churn Butter Demo, let every student have a turn at the handle so they feel the physical work required, then record the time it takes to make a small pat.

What to look for

Show images of different kitchen tools from the past (e.g., coal shovel, dripping pan, mangle). Ask students to point to the tool used for cooking and the tool used for laundry, or to describe its function.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Stations Rotation
• 20 min · Whole Class

Story Circle: Grandma's Tales

Sit in a circle. Share printed stories or guest tales of pre-electricity homes. Children add actions like scrubbing motions. Draw one chore and label old vs new way.

How do you think people kept their food fresh before refrigerators were invented?

Facilitation Tip

During the Story Circle Grandma's Tales, provide props such as a wooden spoon or a piece of salt pork so children can hold items mentioned in the story.

What to look for

Provide students with two pictures: one of a modern refrigerator and one of a pantry with salted fish. Ask them to draw a line connecting the picture that shows how food was kept fresh before electricity and write one word explaining why.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers approach this topic by blending concrete, sensory experiences with structured comparisons. Avoid long explanations about change over time; instead, let students discover differences through handling real or replica objects. Research in primary history shows that children aged five and six learn best when they can see, touch, and narrate their own actions in the past.

By the end of the activities, students will describe at least two ways food was preserved and two steps in washing clothes without machines. They will compare tools from the past with modern equivalents and explain why daily life required more time and effort.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Sorting Past and Present Tools, watch for students who assume every old tool was used for only one purpose.

  Have students place each tool image under the correct category label (cooking or cleaning) and then justify their choice in pairs using the tool’s shape and material.

• During Role-Play Victorian Kitchen Day, watch for students who think laundry was a quick task.

  Set a timer for five minutes and ask students to scrub a small piece of fabric on the washboard, then reflect on the effort and time needed compared to a washing machine.

• During Story Circle Grandma's Tales, watch for students who picture past kitchens as almost the same as modern ones.

  After the story, display two images side by side and ask students to circle differences in heat sources, lighting, and cleaning tools.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation