New
New
Year 2

Victorian childhood

I can describe some of the jobs Victorian children had to do and what this was like for them

New
New
Year 2

Victorian childhood

I can describe some of the jobs Victorian children had to do and what this was like for them

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Victorian childhood was very different to childhood today.
  2. Many Victorian children needed to work, both in towns and in the countryside.
  3. In a Victorian illustration, a child can be seen fainting in the fields due to the hard work.
  4. Children worked in factories and mines, and as chimney sweeps; these jobs were often very dangerous.
  5. Historical sources show many children died or were injured doing these dangerous jobs.

Keywords

  • Mines - mines are deep holes dug in the ground to find precious materials like coal or metal

  • Chimney sweep - someone who sweeps the soot out of chimneys is called a chimney sweep

  • Sources - sources are things from the past that historians look at to try and find out what life was like at that time

Common misconception

Pupils may believe that all Victorian children worked, or that no Victorian children had an education.

Children from wealthy families were educated at home or sent to schools that were paid for. Some children went to small local schools on some days of the week and worked on other days. Some of the least fortunate children did not go to school at all.

Many traditional children's toys were popularised in Victorian times. Many are still enjoyed today for example, dolls and doll houses, teddy bears, marbles, toy boats and trains, and puppets. Talk to pupils about their experience with toys like these that children have enjoyed since Victorian times.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of upsetting content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
John Brown was from ...
England
Wales
Correct answer: Scotland
Ireland
Q2.
Which country was Balmoral in?
Correct Answer: Scotland, scotland
Q3.
A piece of land with a large house on it is called an ...
Correct Answer: estate
Q4.
Why couldn’t Queen Victoria travel to Europe as planned in 1842?
The flight was cancelled.
Correct answer: She wasn’t well enough.
She had to go to work.
Q5.
Queen Victoria lived in Buckingham in London, England.
Castle
House
Road
Correct answer: Palace
Q6.
Put these events into the correct order.
1 - Victoria and Albert were planning to go on holiday in Europe.
2 - Victoria was very ill.
3 - Victoria and Albert went on holiday to Scotland instead.
4 - Victoria and Albert bought Balmoral estate.
5 - Albert died.

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the keyword to the correct definition.
Correct Answer:mines,deep holes dug in the ground to find precious materials like coal

deep holes dug in the ground to find precious materials like coal

Correct Answer:chimney sweep,someone who sweeps the soot out of chimneys

someone who sweeps the soot out of chimneys

Q2.
Lots of poor Victorian children had to go to...
school
Correct answer: work
a holiday
Q3.
Only Victorian children that lived in cities had to work.
True
Correct answer: False
Q4.
Children worked in mines because they were...
tall
Correct answer: small
bored
Q5.
Where does coal come from?
Correct Answer: mines, a mine, under the ground, underground
Q6.
Burning coal in fireplaces made the chimneys...
clean
Correct answer: sooty
empty

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