A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WORLD WAR TWO
Acitivies For Learning About WW2
Evacuation Day
Preparing an evacuation day for the children is an effective way of engaging them with the trauma and life of an evacuee child. The day consists of the children taking on the role of an evacuee child from the clothes they wore to the sweets they ate and many more aspects of their lives.
For this day children dress in this same style of clothing that evacuee children would have dressed in. For example this would be grey skirt/shorts, white shirt/top and a blazer or cardigan of either grey or black. It was common for children to wear knee high socks and have black simple shoes. Children are also able to bring a comfort toy of their own, a small bag or suitcase and a small bag of wartime sweets to theoretically accompany them on the journey of evacuation.
An activity the children can complete is to write themselves a name tag to wear for the day, in the typical style that an evacuee would have worn. This will allow the children to understand more deeply the process of being relocated with someone they had never met before.
Another aspect of an evacuee's life is to always carry their gas masks in a small brown box around their neck. The children could either make these prior to the day at home or this could be an activity for the day.
When the children were evacuated during the war they often wrote letters home to reassure their mothers and families, back in London, of their safety and wellbeing. The children in school could undertake roleplay of the journey to the countryside imagining the differences in their surroundings as they journey further away from London. The children could then write a letter to their families, detailing what they imagined during the role play.