Loading parent guides...
Yesterday and tomorrow are still blurry concepts. 'Last week' could mean this morning. But they're starting to understand that things were different before - and wondering what it was like.
Your child travels to a time when things were different - different clothes, different food, different ways of living. They discover that people felt the same feelings, even when everything else was unfamiliar.
Historical thinking develops later than most cognitive skills - children under 7 struggle to conceptualise deep time (Barton & Levstik, 2004). But perspective-taking - imagining life as someone else in another context - is a powerful developmental tool that emerges earlier. Wellman et al. (2001) found that 'theory of mind' (understanding that others have different perspectives, knowledge, and feelings) develops between ages 3 and 5, and that narrative exposure accelerates this development. Stories set in unfamiliar times or places are particularly effective because they require the child to imagine a perspective genuinely different from their own.
Teaching history as facts and dates
Meaningless to young children who can't conceptualise chronological time. Historical empathy - imagining how people felt - is developmentally accessible much earlier than historical chronology (Barton & Levstik, 2004).
Focusing on famous people and events
Less relatable for young children. Everyday life in the past ('What did children eat? Where did they sleep?') is more engaging and builds stronger perspective-taking skills (VanSledright, 2002).
Assuming they're too young for history
Children can't grasp timelines, but they can grasp difference and similarity. 'People used to cook over fire instead of stoves' is accessible and fascinating.
The story doesn't teach history - it uses historical imagination to build perspective-taking. The character visits a time where things look different but feelings remain the same. This dual experience (difference in context, similarity in emotion) is what researchers call 'historical empathy' (Endacott & Brooks, 2013), and it's the foundation for understanding that the world is varied, that different isn't wrong, and that people everywhere share fundamental emotional experiences.
Wonder and curiosity - the story uses historical imagination to develop perspective-taking, cultural awareness, and the understanding that the world hasn't always been the way it is now.
When your child asks 'What was it like when you were little?'
When they show interest in 'the olden days'
Before visiting historical sites, museums, or cultural events
When you want to develop empathy and perspective-taking
As a bedtime story that opens the imagination to different worlds
The story is the beginning. Here's how to keep it going:
“What was the most amazing thing about that time?”
“Would you like to live back then? Why or why not?”
“What else do you want to know about that time period?”
Try this
Look up pictures or a short video about the era, or draw what they imagined
Educational adventures based on research-backed learning theories.