Teach17

A collection of hands-on activities, artefacts and challenges to bring the history department to life at the open morning. Pick a handful to run brilliantly rather than spreading thin across all of them.

1. Handle a real artefact – genuine or replica coins, pottery shards or war memorabilia visitors can actually pick up and turn over in their hands, with white gloves ready for anything fragile.
2. Crack the code station – an Enigma-style cipher wheel visitors use to decode a short hidden WWII message themselves, watching gibberish turn into real words.
3. Dress up and photo corner – a rack of costumes spanning Tudor to Victorian to 1960s, with a simple backdrop so visitors leave with a photo on their phone.
4. Mystery object table – unlabelled historical objects laid out for visitors to guess the use of, with the answer hidden under a flap they flip over once they’ve had a go.
5. Build a timeline wall – event cards visitors physically place along a long timeline strip, watching different periods and topics slot together in ways they didn’t expect.
6. Handwriting and calligraphy station – quill or dip pens and ink for visitors to try writing their name like a medieval scribe or a Victorian clerk.
7. Detective the primary source – a real historical document or photograph visitors examine for clues, working out who, what and when before the answer is revealed underneath.
8. Trench life sensory box – replica WWI rations, kit and recorded sounds recreating a small slice of what soldiers actually experienced, something felt rather than just read about.
9. Coin and currency through time – real or replica coins from Roman denarii to decimal currency laid out for visitors to handle and compare side by side.
10. Historical who am I – clue cards pinned to visitors’ backs naming a famous figure, who then wander the stand asking yes-or-no questions until they work out who they are.
11. Map the empire or migration – a large wall map visitors add pins or string to, tracing trade routes, empires or migration patterns from a chosen period as the morning builds up a web of connections.
12. History trivia leaderboard – a live high score chart running all morning, giving people a reason to swing back past the stand and try to beat their score.
13. Student research and project showcase – posters or screens of the strongest student investigations, with the students themselves on hand to talk visitors through them.
14. Propaganda poster analysis – original or replica propaganda posters visitors examine and try to decode, spotting the persuasive tricks hidden in the imagery and slogans.
15. Build your own shield or coat of arms – card and craft materials for visitors to design a family crest, tying into a quick chat about what medieval symbols actually meant.
16. Careers wall with real pathways – actual alumni stories showing the route from GCSE or A-level history into apprenticeships, degrees or jobs, ideally with a QR code linking to short video clips.
17. Archive dig station – a shallow sand or gravel tray with replica artefacts buried inside for visitors to excavate gently with brushes, like a mini archaeological dig.