Imperial War Museum

On Saturday, we took off to London to visit the Imperial War Museum to begin our WWII unit study. We are going to be visiting Normandy this spring, so I wanted to find a way to introduce this period of history to the children. There are so many exhibits focusing on many different wars there that we only covered the WWII section for this visit. We will go back to visit the rest of the museum later on. We are planning to visit Churchill's War Rooms and the HMS Belfast cruiser, also found in London, later on during this study.

Most of what we saw the kids did not understand yet. My husband and I were taking this opportunity to introduce the children to WWII, but as we study it I will be able to have them look back on the pictures and guide book and explained each object in much more detail. It was also an excellent opportunity to purchase some books at the gift shop to use for our study.


Outside of the museum was a large section of the old Berlin Wall that was torn down in the late 80's.











A refurbished Sherman tank.








An Enigma machine that broke the German codes.











Map of the beaches attacked in Normandy. We will be visiting these beaches this spring when my parents come to visit.







A replica of Little Boy, the bomb used on Hiroshima.







Some other exhibits we experienced, but I could not take pictures of, were going inside a air raid shelter and while listening to the sights, sounds and even smells experienced in the shelter. Walking down a bombed out street and visualizing the destruction after a bomb hits the street.

We also went into the Children exhibit which focused on 5 stories written for children about the different aspects of war. My daughter enjoyed this exhibit so much and read the books that she insisted we purchase the books so we could read them at home together.

All in all a great start to learning about WWII, can't wait to get started!!!

Join Tracy, Lynda and myself at the NOBH. Link up and join in the fun!!!