Monday 4 April 2011

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!!!

12 comments:

  1. It seems you have so many great places to take field trips in your part of the world! This looks like another fun and educational trip! I'm sure I could learn a lot from this museum too if I was there! The Children's exhibit looks like the perfect place to learn more about the war! So glad your kids are excited to learn more about this part of history! Clicked a vote for you!

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  2. Thank you for sharing your photos, and the experience. My son is very interested in WWII. I will be sharing all your posts on this unit study with him.

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  3. I can't wait to do trips like this with my girls. I absolutely LOVE History. Thanks for sharing your pics!

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  4. Hi Tracy
    We enjoy taking field trips gets us out of the house and we love history

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  5. Hi Lynda,
    If I find any great WWII resources I will send them your son's way:)

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  6. Thanks anything but LoKEY for stopping by and commenting hope you will visit again:)

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  7. You take such great field trips!

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  8. Thanks helpful Teacher, we try to do many field trips breaks up the boring lesson work ( as my kids call it) Plus it is fun to go out as a family. My husband and I love history and wish to pass it on to our children.

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  9. Wow, what a way to experience history! Wish I could spend some time in Europe...

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  10. Hi Maureen,
    I hope one day you get too visit we are having so much fun!! I can be a tour guide if you come over:)

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  11. I really like that museum, I went with school once plus by myself. There is also one in Manchester. :)

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