History · Year 2

Active learning ideas

Local Wildlife and Environment History

Active learning works for this topic because children need to see, touch, and compare real evidence to grasp how places and creatures change over time. When they leave the classroom to survey today’s wildlife, then match their findings to old maps or photos, they build lasting connections between what they observe and what history shows.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: History - Significant historical places in their own locality
• KS1: Geography - Local geography

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Walk and Talk
• 45 min · Whole Class

Field Survey: Local Wildlife Today

Lead a whole-class walk around school grounds or a nearby park. Provide clipboards, magnifying glasses, and checklists for students to sketch and note plants and animals. Return to class to sort findings into categories like trees, insects, and birds, then display on a shared map.

What animals and plants can you find in your local area today?

Facilitation Tip

For Field Survey, model how to use tally marks and gentle sketching to record small creatures without disturbing them.

What to look for

Give students a card with a picture of a local landmark from 100 years ago and one from today. Ask them to write one sentence comparing the two and one sentence about how wildlife might have been affected.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Walk and Talk
• 35 min · Small Groups

Timeline Build: Past Environments

In small groups, supply old and recent photos of the local area from libraries or online archives. Children sequence images on a large timeline strip, adding labels for changes like 'more houses' or 'fewer hedges'. Groups present to the class, explaining reasons for shifts.

How might the local environment and wildlife have looked different 100 years ago?

Facilitation Tip

During Timeline Build, provide printed images and labels so students physically place events in order on a long strip of paper.

What to look for

Show students a historical map of their local area. Ask: 'What do you notice that is different from our area today? What might have caused these changes? What animals or plants might have lived here then?'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Walk and Talk
• 30 min · Pairs

Family Interviews: Elder Memories

Pairs prepare three simple questions about local wildlife 50-100 years ago, such as 'What animals did you see as a child?' They interview grandparents or neighbours, record responses with drawings or voice notes, then share in a class 'memory wall'.

What can we do to help look after and protect our local wildlife and green spaces?

Facilitation Tip

In Family Interviews, give clear sentence starters and a small voice recorder so children focus on listening rather than note-taking.

What to look for

As students observe plants and animals in the school grounds, ask them to point to one example and explain why it is important for that living thing to have a habitat. Listen for mentions of food, water, or shelter.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Awareness

Activity 04

• Walk and Talk
• 40 min · Small Groups

Habitat Model: Before and After

Small groups use trays with soil, toy animals, and craft materials to build models of the local area 100 years ago versus today. Discuss human impacts during construction, then vote on protection ideas to add to models.

What animals and plants can you find in your local area today?

Facilitation Tip

With Habitat Model, supply craft materials like cardboard, fabric scraps, and glue to represent both past and present scenes clearly.

What to look for

Give students a card with a picture of a local landmark from 100 years ago and one from today. Ask them to write one sentence comparing the two and one sentence about how wildlife might have been affected.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should start with what children can see and touch today before introducing abstract ideas like change over time. Avoid overwhelming them with too much historical data at once; instead, use one strong piece of evidence per lesson. Research suggests that when students handle real artefacts or hear first-hand stories, their recall and empathy improve. Keep vocabulary simple but precise, pairing terms like ‘habitat’ with clear examples from their own school grounds.

Successful learning looks like students confidently using observation sheets outdoors, sequencing historical changes on timelines, listening actively during interviews, and explaining why habitats matter through model-building. They should speak in simple, grounded sentences that link past to present, such as ‘The pond used to be here, so frogs could live there.’

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Field Survey, watch for students assuming the local environment has always looked the same.

  Use the survey sheets to prompt questions: ‘Do you see any clues today that this spot was different long ago? Compare your sketch with the old photo pinned on the clipboard.’

• During Timeline Build, watch for students attributing all environmental changes to natural causes only.

  Point to human-made features on the timeline, such as roads or new houses, and ask, ‘Who made this change? How might this affect animals that need quiet spaces?’

• During Habitat Model, watch for students believing lost wildlife can be quickly replaced anywhere.

  Ask children to place their model creatures in the habitat diorama and explain, ‘If we move the badger here, where will it find the right food or shelter?’

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Methods used in this brief

• Walk and Talk