History · Year 1

Active learning ideas

The First Moon Landing: Apollo 11

Active learning helps young pupils grasp the Apollo 11 mission because it uses movement, storytelling, and hands-on tasks to make an event beyond living memory feel immediate. Role-play, group work, and drawing create memorable anchors for facts about crew roles, technology, and the Moon’s surface.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: History - Events beyond living memory
• KS1: History - Significant historical events

• 15–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 30 min · Whole Class

Role-Play: Moon Walk Simulation

Clear space for pupils to don helmets from cardboard and practise slow-motion Moon walks while narrating Armstrong's words. Pause for whole-class discussion on feelings during the landing. End with pupils drawing their 'Moon footprints'.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Facilitation Tip

During the Moon Walk Simulation, demonstrate slow, heavy movements and low gravity hops before pupils begin so they connect the body to the lunar environment.

What to look for

Give each student a picture of the Moon landing. Ask them to draw one thing they learned about the mission and write one sentence about who was involved.

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

Activity 02

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 25 min · Small Groups

Small Groups: Timeline Builders

Provide printed images of key events from preparation to splashdown. Groups sequence them on a large timeline strip, adding sticky notes with simple descriptions. Share one fact per group with the class.

What do you think it felt like to watch the Moon landing on television?

Facilitation Tip

While building the mission timeline, provide pre-printed event cards with pictures so all pupils can contribute regardless of reading level.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Why do you think landing on the Moon was such an important moment for everyone?' Encourage students to share their ideas, focusing on the sense of achievement and exploration.

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

Activity 03

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 20 min · Pairs

Pairs: TV Broadcast Retell

Pairs watch a short, child-friendly clip of the landing then retell it as news reporters using toy microphones. Record retells for playback. Discuss what made viewers excited.

Why do you think landing on the Moon was such an important moment for everyone?

Facilitation Tip

For the TV Broadcast Retell, model a short news-style clip first so pupils understand the tone and structure before they rehearse in pairs.

What to look for

Show images of the Saturn V rocket, the Lunar Module, and an astronaut on the Moon. Ask students to point to the correct image when you say the name of the object or person.

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

Activity 04

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 15 min · Individual

Individual: Feeling Sketches

Pupils sketch and label emotions during the Moon landing using prompt cards like 'scared', 'excited', 'proud'. Share in a circle to build class vocabulary.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Facilitation Tip

Before pupils create Feeling Sketches, ask them to close their eyes and imagine the moment, then share one word that describes their feeling to guide their drawings.

What to look for

Give each student a picture of the Moon landing. Ask them to draw one thing they learned about the mission and write one sentence about who was involved.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers often introduce this topic with a short, age-appropriate video (no longer than two minutes) to establish the setting before moving straight into role-play. Avoid overloading pupils with technical details; focus on the human story of teamwork and courage. Research suggests concrete props, such as a ball for the Moon and a shoebox for the Lunar Module, help young learners grasp scale and function more effectively than abstract diagrams.

Successful learning looks like pupils confidently naming the three astronauts, sequencing the main mission steps, retelling the landing moment with feeling, and showing curiosity about the teamwork and technology behind the achievement.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Moon Walk Simulation, watch for pupils assuming the astronauts stayed on the Moon forever.

  Prompt pupils to act out the return journey by walking back to Earth and explaining that the astronauts came home after their mission.

• During Timeline Builders, watch for pupils placing the 1969 landing after their own birth years.

  Have pupils add their birth year to the timeline strip first, then place the Moon landing far to the left to emphasize its distance in time.

• During the TV Broadcast Retell, watch for pupils describing only one astronaut’s actions.

  Provide role cards for each astronaut and remind pupils to include all three crew members in their retell.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inside-Outside Circle